GETTING MARRIED IN ITALY

Exciting news announced last month advised that now you can also marry in some other very special locations in Florence……… for a price of course!   For example, you can now marry in the Sala di Lorenzo in the Museo Bardini surrounded by Vasari frescos for €1,250.00, The Giardini delle Rose for €2,000.00 or go all out in the Salone de’ Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio for €5,000.00!  This is the room that is apparently hiding the mysterious Da Vinci painting, Battaglia di Anghiari.  As amazing as this historic room would be to get married in, it is clearly not going to be in everyone’s budget.

It now costs €620 to get married in the Sala Rossa unless you or your partner are a Florentine resident, then you don’t have to pay anything as fortunately was the case for us!  So after all the excitement of the proposal had subsided, it was time for me to get serious about getting all of those documents in order. I’ll try to make it as straightforward as possible because it can all seem a bit overwhelming, especially if you haven’t dealt with any public offices in Italy before!  The first two documents that I needed were an ‘Atto Notario per Matrimonio’ and a ‘Nulla Osta’.

 

1) Atto Notorio – The Atto Notario is basically a sworn declaration stating that you are free to marry and can be obtained by appointment only from the Tribunale Civile. You must attend in person, with your ‘fidanzato/a’ and with two witnesses who are not related to you to swear that you have the legal right to marry.  If you don’t speak Italian, make sure you also have a translator with you. I was given much conflicting advice about this document as was told that I could get it at the Italian Consulate in Melbourne which I did organize while in Australia, only to find upon my return to Italy that it was not accepted here in Florence.  Also, make sure that you plan ahead as when I called the Tribunale Civile to make the appointment for the Atto Notario, the first available appointment was six months from the date I was calling! In the end, when we called the marriage office in Palazzo Vecchio to book the wedding date and time they advised that they could do the Atto Notario for me but I would need four witnesses. So do check, double check and check again with the local council where you are intending to marry to make sure that you understand all the documentation that is required before the big day! You must take the following to your appointment : Passport Birth Certificate Divorce or Death Certificate (if applicable) Marca da Bollo for €14.62.  This can be obtained at any Tabacchi All certificates must be Original and not older than 6 months.  They must be translated by a certified translator into Italian and be certified by an Italian Consular Officer.  This means they must have an Apostille Seal. The Atto Notorio expires after 3 months.

2) Nulla OstaThe Nulla Osta, a Certificate of No Impediment can be obtained from the Australian Embassy in Rome or the Consulate-General in Milan.  This literally also states that “there are no impediments” or that one is free to marry.  The document is only valid for six months and costs €50.00 for Australian Citizens. This Italian document is different to the Australian Certificate of No Impediment, which is currently not being accepted in Italy.

Once the Nulla Osta has been obtained at the Australian embassy, it must be authenticated or legalized by the Ufficio Legalizzazioni of a Prefettura prior to the wedding ceremony.  The legalisation fee for the Nulla Osta consists of a duty stamp/Marca da Bolla for €14.62 which has to be purchased before taking the Nulla Osta to the Prefettura. You should probably confirm the cost of the duty stamp with the Prefettura beforehand just to be sure that the prices haven’t gone up since I was married.

Another important point is that your name must be written in exactly the same way on your passport, Atto Notorio and the Nulla Osta! If you have been previously married, you must produce evidence of the termination of your marriage so ensure you have the original divorce or death certificate.

Once you finally have all of your lovely documents translated, certified and legalized, it’s time to make two more appointments.  The first is for your Declaration of Intent to Marry / Promessa di Matrimonio, and the second is for the actual civil marriage ceremony.  For the first appointment you must be accompanied by witnesses and if the parties to the marriage do not speak Italian, once again you will need your interpreter.

Again, confirm these details when you contact the Ufficio Matrimoni to book your appointments. If one or both of you are Italian residents then your wedding announcement must be posted publicly at the town hall for two consecutive Sundays.  Four days after the second Sunday you are free to marry.  This was actually quite exciting and it was very special to see our wedding announcement on public display!

With all the paperwork in place it takes anywhere from three to four days to get permission to marry in a civil ceremony held at a town hall.

Weddings are celebrated in Florence on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays by special request.  The Saturday ceremonies last about 20 mins while the weekdays are not so busy so they last for 30 minutes and as there was no other wedding directly after ours, we were allowed to stay and take extra photos in the gorgeous Red Hall.

It can seem very daunting at the start and if you are planning on coming to Italy just for the wedding, then it would probably be much easier to hire a wedding planner to organize all of the documents and other details for you.Our wedding day would not have been such a lovely memory if not for the following …………

My hair and Makeup was effortlessly done by Edi Rossello

Our beautiful photos were taken by Gerrardo of Italian Wedding Photography

We celebrated with a beautiful cocktail lunch at the Villa La Vedetta

We spent our wedding night at Hotel Home

And I almost forgot to mention the incredible cake made by my sister Toni.

Useful Addresses & Contact Details

FLORENCE

Civil Status Wedding Office

Contact: Loretta Burdassi
Address: Palazzo Vecchio – Piazza Signoria
Telephone: +39 055 2768518 – 2768299 – 2768211 – 2768575
Fax: +39 055 7472091

e-mail: matrimoni@pec.comune.fi.it       l.burdassi@comune.fi.it

Hours: Monday through Saturday 8.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.

Tribunale Civile

2 Piazza San Martino 2nd Floor

Telephone : 055-27461

Italian Prefecture

Via Giacomini, 8

Tel: 055/ 27 831.

– open Monday through Friday from 9.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. Thursdays from 2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.

Bring a € 14,62 marca da bollo revenue stamp of with you. Stamps may be purchased at any local tabacchi).

ROME

Tribunale Civile di Roma
Office for “Atti Notori”
Viale Giulio Cesare 54/B
Nuovo Edificio, 1st floor, Room 523 and 524
00192 Rome ITALY
Tel: +39 06 357 7547

For Australian Citizens, A Nulla Osta can be obtained from the :

Australian Embassy
Via Antonio Bosio 5
00161 Rome, ITALY
Telephone: +39 06 8527 2246
Facsimile: +39 06 8527 2300
Email: consular-rome@dfat.gov.au
Website: http://www.italy.embassy.gov.au

Or Australian Consulate-General
3rd Floor
Via Borgogna 2
20122 Milan

Telephone: +39 02 776 74200
Facsimile: +39 02 776 04242

*Please note that payments can only be made in cash in Euros, or with an Italian bank cheque.  Credit card facilities are not available.

Prefettura di Roma
Viale Ostiense, 131L,
2nd floor, Scala B,
00154 Rome

Marriage Office in Rome
Via Petroselli, 50,
00186 Rome
Tel: +39 06 6710 3066