Getting married in Italy from the UK: A step-by-step guide

Getting married in Italy from the UK is easier than many couples expect because you can easily fly in for your appointments and the ceremony. The real work happens at home before you travel, when you legalise your UK documents for use in Italy.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the documents Italy requires to recognise your marriage if you’re from the UK. We’ll also cover the order in which you legalise and translate them, along with what your Italian marriage certificate means back home.

The legal documents and legalisation processes for marrying in Italy as a UK citizen take 7 steps:

1. Check the documents your comune wants.
2. Apply for your nulla osta.
3. Sign your atto notorio.
4. Apostille your UK documents.
5. Translate various documents into Italian as may be required.
6. Submit your documents at the town hall.
7. Marry and collect your certificate.

Many of the documents required for overseas marriage overlap across countries, but Italy may require a few extra items. Your comune writes the final list.

Most UK couples need the same documents to marry in Italy. Here are the most common ones:

Your certificate of no impediment (CNI) confirms that you are legally free to marry under UK law. Italy calls it a nulla osta.

You can give notice at your local register office in the UK, which issues the CNI after 28 days. You can also apply to the British Embassy in Rome with GOV.UK’s nulla osta pack.

Your comune determines which route it accepts. Many want the CNI to have been issued within the last 6 months.

Your atto notorio is a sworn declaration that nothing stops you from marrying under Italian law. Many comuni ask for one.

Each comune sets its own format preference, which you can confirm by asking its civil registry office before you sign anything.

Some couples must sign a bilingual statutory declaration before a UK solicitor or notary, while others must sign at an Italian consulate or in Italy.

If your comune asks for a UK signature, a solicitor or notary registered with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) can provide it.

You can ask a document legalisation service to arrange that signature through its network of professionals.

Your Italian comune usually requires a full birth certificate that shows your parents’ names. It also requires a valid passport for each partner.

Italian authorities can reject a name mismatch between documents, so it’s worth quickly checking each name and other details before you send anything off.

If you’ve married or were in a civil partnership before, the comune handling your new union can ask for proof that the earlier one is over.

Depending on the stage, you can prove this using a court-issued final order (or a decree absolute for older divorces), or with a valid and legalised death certificate of your late spouse.

Some comuni also want the earlier marriage certificate, which also needs a UK marriage certificate apostille.

Italy and the UK are both members of the Hague Apostille Convention, which includes 127+ countries. That’s why your UK papers need an apostille, but not embassy attestation.

The 2 sections below cover which papers need an apostille and when translation applies:

Your comune determines which papers need an apostille. Most require an apostille for a certificate of no impediment and your birth certificate; the same applies to divorce papers and a UK-signed sworn declaration.

The apostille authenticates the UK official’s signature and stamp but doesn’t vouch for the document’s contents.

Standard apostilles take 3 to 4 working days and start at £82, while next-day service starts at £92 for documents that reach us by 9:30 am.

Your comune may require every document in Italian and decide which translators it accepts.

Some comuni expect a sworn translation done in Italy, whereas others accept a UK translator whose signature an FCDO-registered solicitor or notary verifies before the FCDO apostilles it.

You apostille first and translate second, so the translator can also cover the apostille. If you send us your comune’s translation rules, we confirm the right order for your papers.

Yes. Your marriage in Italy is legal in the UK if it was lawful where it took place, and UK law would allow it.

According to the GOV.UK’s guidance on registering a marriage or civil partnership abroad, once the foreign authorities register the marriage, you don’t need to register the marriage or civil partnership again in the UK.

Legal recognition happens automatically, but UK organisations still ask to see your Italian certificate before they act on it. Some accept it as it is, while others ask for extra steps first.

The 3 points below show how that recognition works in common situations:

Here are answers to the most common questions couples ask us about Italian wedding paperwork: