MARRIAGE OF US CITIZENS IN ITALY
United States citizens wishing to be married in Italy must appear with two witnesses before the Ufficiale dello Stato Civile (Civil Registrar) of the city or town where they plan to get married and must formally state their intention to marry. At that time the couple must present all the required documents (see below) to the Civil Registrar, after which banns are usually posted at the local City Hall for eight consecutive days. However, banns are waived by the Civil Registrar if neither party is an Italian citizen nor is residing in Italy.
Please, be advised that if one of the parties holds also the Italian citizenship and is registered with an Italian Consulate, a different procedure applies. Please, contact statocivile.houston@esteri.it for information.
On the fourth day (or any other successive day) after the banns (or after the banns have been waived), the couple may be married, either in a civil or religious (Roman Catholic) ceremony.
A civil ceremony is performed by the Civil Registrar or Deputy Civil Registrar. If a religious ceremony is performed by a Roman Catholic priest, it is valid civilly and religiously: the priest will register the marriage a the Ufficio Stato Civile (Vital Statistics Office).
Because of the special Italian requirements applicable to marriages performed according to a non-Roman Catholic faith, it is usually requested that a civil ceremony take place prior to the religious one.
It is strongly advised you verify with the State Registrar of your US residence if the Italian marriage will be legally recognized by the State.
The following documents must be submitted to the Ufficiale dello Stato Civile in Italy by each US citizen getting married in Italy at the time of declaring the intention to marry:
1. VALID US PASSPORT or American Armed Forces identification card;
2. ORIGINAL OR CERTIFIED COPY OF BIRTH CERTIFICATE IN LONG FORM, LEGALIZED WITH APOSTILLE AND TRANSLATED INTO ITALIAN.
- Birth certificate in long form must indicate date and exact place of birth (indication of County or State only is NOT sufficient) and parents’ names;
- Birth certificate must be legalized with Apostille, issued by the Secretary of State where the certificate was issued;
- Birth certificate must be translated into Italian by an official translator. If translation is done in US (list of translators is available on the Consulate website), it must be legalized by the Consulate. Otherwise the translation can be done directly in Italy by a traduttore giurato: in this case, the translation does not need any further legalization.
3. If applicable, evidence of termination of any previous marriage (such as certified copy of divorce decree, annulment decree or death certificate of late spouse), legalized with Apostille and translated into Italian (same as above);
4. DECLARATION (Dichiarazione Giurata) BEFORE AN AMERICAN CONSULAR OFFICER IN ITALY, sworn by the US citizen getting married, stating that, in accordance with the laws to which the US citizen is subject in the United States, there is no bar to his/her marriage in Italy. This document must then be legalized by the competent Italian Authority (Prefettura): for more information, please contact the US Diplomatic Representative in Italy ( https://it.usembassy.gov/)
5. ATTO NOTORIO PER MATRIMONIO: this is a declaration made by four witnesses stating that, according to the US and Italian laws, there is no bar to the marriage of the US citizen(s) in Italy.
It is possible to proceed to the Atto Notorio in the following ways:
a) in Italy at the local Court (Pretura Civile) in the city where the marriage will take place;
b) at the Italian Consulate competent for the State of residence of the US citizen getting married in Italy (the Consulate General of Italy in Houston is competent for Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas resident only). For more information and to schedule an appointment please contact statocivile.houston@esteri.it
For birth certificates issued in TX, OK, AR, LA visit this link
For Apostille for birth certificates issued in TX, OK, AR, LA visit this link
