Getting legally married in Italy as Irish citizens
Irish citizens prove they are free to marry with a certificate of freedom to marry from the Department of Foreign Affairs. The rest happens in Italy and is the same as for any couple.
The certificate of freedom to marry
Apply online. Each of you completes the Department of Foreign Affairs questionnaire online, then prints and signs it with the statutory declarations and checklist it produces. Print them straight away, because they cannot be retrieved later.
Have the declarations witnessed. By a solicitor, a notary or a commissioner for oaths, who knows you or checks your identity.
Post everything with your documents. Usually your long-form birth certificate and a copy of your passport, plus the papers for any earlier marriage. The checklist tells you exactly what. Send it all to the address printed on your questionnaire: the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin if you live in Ireland (Cork if you live in Munster), or your nearest Irish embassy if you live abroad. The fee is €60 each plus a small postage charge, and €60 more each if you apply within 28 days of the wedding.
Timing. Apply at least four months before the wedding; your declarations can't be dated more than six months before it. Allow up to eight weeks for the certificate to arrive. Talk to us before you apply, so the dates line up with your comune.
In Italy
Your documents are translated into Italian where the comune needs it. You both make a declaration before the registrar, with us interpreting, usually a day or two before the wedding, and then the registrar marries you, with us beside you and your two witnesses. How it works in Italy
One of you is British
Then each of you follows your own route, side by side: the certificate of freedom to marry for the Irish partner, and the certificate of no impediment and sworn declaration for the British partner. The British route All three nationalities compared
Recognised at home
A marriage validly made under Italian law is recognised in Ireland, with nothing to register when you get back.
What it costs
Our fee is €2,250, fixed, for the same service as British couples. You pay the comune's fee and the Department of Foreign Affairs' fee separately. The service
Checked October 2026. Official source: the Department of Foreign Affairs on marriage abroad.
Can we marry in Italy?
Eight quick questions. You see your answer straight away, and we follow up personally.
Or message us on WhatsApp, or email us at ciao@italianelopements.com.