You can elope in Italy from the UK and come home legally married. You can also marry quietly at home first and let Italy be only the wedding. For British couples, the second is easier than for almost anyone else — and the flight is short enough to choose the hour, not just the season.
Two routes, one decision
Legal in Italy. A civil ceremony at the Comune — the town hall — under Italian law. The British Embassy in Rome issues one document you need, but it does not marry you.
Legal at home, ceremony in Italy. You give notice and sign at a register office in the UK. The ceremony in Italy is symbolic — your vows, the two of you, anywhere, at any hour.
GOV.UK says it plainly: “If you want a UK marriage or civil partnership certificate, you can choose to have a legal ceremony in the UK and a commitment ceremony abroad” (GOV.UK).
The legal route: the nulla osta
Italy asks every foreign national for a nulla osta — proof that nothing prevents you from marrying. For British nationals, GOV.UK says “certificate of no impediment is Nulla Osta in Italian” (GOV.UK, Italy CNI documents). It’s issued by the British Embassy in Rome. A fuller checklist is in my legal requirements guide.
The sequence
- Apply online through the GOV.UK service for documents to marry abroad. You need a valid British passport, and the form can’t be saved halfway (GOV.UK).
- Print two forms — a notice of marriage and an affirmation — and fill them in by hand. Change the layout and you’ll be asked to start again.
- Sign them in front of a notary. Not before.
- Post them to the Embassy in Rome, by courier or registered post, with your application reference, proof of address, your parents’ full names and, if needed, divorce or death documents.
Then the Comune. You declare your intent to marry at the town hall where the ceremony will be, nulla osta in hand. It sets its own dates, rooms and fees, and tells you what else it needs.
The detail that sets your dates
The affirmation asks you to swear that you have “for three days immediately preceding this date had my usual residence in Italy” (Embassy forms, PDF).
So you can’t finish this at home. You land, you wait three days, you sign before a notary in Italy, and the papers go to the Embassy. Then the Comune. That’s a week of your trip given to offices, at least.
In Rome: the Embassy is on Via XX Settembre, by Porta Pia. The civil weddings registry is on Via Petroselli, near the Bocca della Verità. Rome works mornings, and it doesn’t hurry for an appointment. More in my guide to eloping in Rome.
The symbolic route: why it’s easier from the UK
At home
In England and Wales you give notice at your local register office at least 29 days before the ceremony, after living in that district for seven days. The notice is good for 12 months. A register office ceremony has a registrar’s fee of £62, with two witnesses (give notice; plan your ceremony). Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules — check with your local registrar.
That is the whole legal part. A short ceremony, a signature, two friends. Keep it deliberately plain — a weekday, lunch after — and save everything for Italy. It isn’t a lesser wedding. It’s a division of labour.
In Italy
No notary. No three-day wait. No office hours. A terrace before seven, a garden in the last hour of light, a quiet corner nobody photographs. The landscape does most of the work.
What it costs
The Two of You (three hours, €3,900) has no celebrant: you read your own vows from a leather booklet I prepare for you. The Signature Day (four hours, €5,500) adds a celebrant, flowers, scouting and permits. The Long Day (seven hours, €7,900) covers two or three places. Everything is on the packages page.
When to come: the short-flight advantage
From London, Rome is a short flight and one hour ahead. No jet lag. You don’t need to cross half the world in the one week everyone else is travelling.
The shoulders. May into early June, and mid-September through October. Fewer people, softer light, mornings when a place belongs to you for an hour.
Skip August. Italy is at its fullest and hottest, and many offices slow down.
Skip February and March. February in Rome is cold with short days, and I’m not around then. March can be wet.
The end of the season. October and the first days of November: low amber light, cities that have gone back to their residents. A long weekend is enough — if the legal part is already done at home.
Will the UK recognise an Italian marriage?
Yes, in most cases. GOV.UK says a foreign marriage is recognised if “it was lawful in the country where it took place” and “it would be allowed under UK law”. What you won’t get is a UK certificate: “Only UK marriages and civil partnerships are registered in the UK” (GOV.UK).
Your proof is the Italian certificate from the Comune. Ask for it before you leave; GOV.UK suggests you may want it translated.
Where to start
Leaning legal? Book the Comune, then plan at least a week in Italy before the date. Leaning symbolic? Book the register office for any date before or after, and start with the place and the hour — the step-by-step guide to eloping in Italy covers the rest. Coming from the US? Here’s how Americans elope in Italy.
From the photographer
A long weekend is enough.
Marry at home, then give Italy one morning. I design the day around the light — Rome, Venice, the lakes — and photograph it.
Plan it with meQuick answers
Can British citizens legally get married in Italy?
Yes. You marry at the Comune in a civil ceremony under Italian law. The British Embassy in Rome issues the nulla osta — the certificate of no impediment — that the Comune needs. GOV.UK says a marriage that was lawful in Italy and would be allowed under UK law is recognised in the UK.
Can we get the nulla osta before we leave the UK?
Not entirely. The Embassy’s affirmation asks you to swear that you have lived at an Italian address for the three days before you sign it, in front of a notary. You apply online first, but the signed forms are completed in Italy and posted to the Embassy in Rome.
Can we register an Italian marriage in the UK?
No. GOV.UK says only UK marriages and civil partnerships are registered in the UK. The Italian certificate from the Comune is your proof. You may want it translated.
Is it easier to marry in the UK and have a symbolic ceremony in Italy?
For most British couples, yes. In England and Wales you give notice at least 29 days ahead, and a register office ceremony has a £62 registrar’s fee with two witnesses. The ceremony in Italy then needs no Italian paperwork, and you can choose any place and any hour.
When is the best time for UK couples to elope in Italy?
May into early June, and mid-September through October. Because the flight is short and Italy is one hour ahead, a long weekend in October or early November also works well, if the legal part is already done at home.
