Where you can legally marry in Florence

This page covers four places in Florence where the comune will legally marry couples who live abroad: Palazzo Vecchio, the Giardino delle Rose below Piazzale Michelangelo, the Museo Bardini and Villa Vogel. On the hill above the city, the separate comune of Fiesole holds weddings in its Palazzo Comunale and in its Roman theatre. Each comune (the local council) sets its own settings, days and fees. Florence’s own list is longer than this, and the comuni around the city also marry couples from abroad; venues, fees and days change from year to year.

A legal wedding in Italy has to take place somewhere the comune has approved: its own buildings and gardens, or an outside venue it has authorised, such as a villa or hotel. Everything below belongs to the comune, so a wedding there is legal and counts at home.

What Florence charges

Florence sets its fee by venue and by where you both live, and charges more for a date outside its published calendar. For couples who are both foreign citizens and both live abroad, the comune’s tariff is €3,900 for the Sala di Lorenzo or the Museo Bardini (€4,550 outside the calendar), €4,550 for the Giardino delle Rose (€5,200) and €6,630 for the Salone dei Cinquecento (€8,190) (2025 tariff).

For the Sala Rossa, the comune’s page for foreign couples, updated in May 2026, gives €2,500 in a calendar slot and €3,000 outside it, below the €3,250 and €3,900 in the 2025 table, so the comune confirms which applies when you book. Villa Vogel is grouped differently in the two documents, and the comune confirms its fee too.

Palazzo Vecchio: the city’s own palazzo

Palazzo Vecchio is the medieval palazzo on Piazza della Signoria that is still the seat of the comune. Three of its halls are on the comune’s list for couples from abroad.

The Sala Rossa, on the first floor, is Florence’s regular wedding hall and seats 40. The comune publishes its dates in an annual calendar, which includes paid slots on one Saturday afternoon and one Sunday morning a month, except in August. The comune’s page for foreign couples reserves Saturday weddings for residents, so the comune confirms whether a weekend slot is open to you.

The Sala di Lorenzo is a smaller hall in the same building, for 30, and marries on two Thursday afternoons a month, from 15:00 to 16:00. The Salone dei Cinquecento is the great hall of the palazzo, with Vasari’s battle scenes on the walls, and holds 240; it marries on one Thursday afternoon a month. In these monumental halls the comune provides tables and chairs, and anything more needs an approved set-up plan, at your cost, with insurance.

Giardino delle Rose: a garden below Piazzale Michelangelo

The Giardino delle Rose is the comune’s terraced rose garden on Viale Giuseppe Poggi, on the slope below Piazzale Michelangelo, with the city below. It is Florence’s outdoor setting. The ceremony takes place in the open garden, which has no cover of its own, so the comune brings in a gazebo and furniture when a wedding is booked. The garden marries on two Tuesday mornings a month from May to September, between 10:30 and 12:30.

Museo Bardini: an antique dealer’s palazzo in the Oltrarno

The Museo Bardini, on Via dei Renai just across the Arno, was where the dealer Stefano Bardini showed and sold his stock and is now a civic museum, known for its deep blue walls and its collection of sculpture and armour. Weddings are in its Sala della Carità, which holds 70, on two Wednesday afternoons a month, from 15:00 to 16:00. It is indoors.

Villa Vogel: a villa in a park outside the centre

Villa Vogel, on Via delle Torri in the Isolotto district, is a villa in a public park that houses the council of the city’s fourth quartiere, and the comune holds weddings in its council hall, which holds 40. It sits outside the limited traffic zone (ZTL) that covers the historic centre, so guests can arrive by car.

Fiesole: a Roman theatre above the city

Fiesole is a separate comune on the hill north of Florence, a short bus ride up from the centre, and its wedding service has two kinds of setting.

In the Palazzo Comunale on the main square, the comune holds weddings in the Sala Basolato, in the former council chamber and under the loggia of the palazzo, which is a covered outdoor setting. The palazzo’s terrace can be used for photographs with up to 20 people, and the couple’s car can park in front of the building.

In the archaeological area, you can marry on the terrace in front of the museum or in the Roman theatre, on its stone seats and orchestra, both in the open air. The officiant gives you a pass for 15 people, which you take to the theatre’s box office for your guests’ tickets. On days when the archaeological area is closed to the public, use of the theatre is by request to the comune’s culture and museums service at least 15 days ahead.

When you are both foreign citizens living abroad, the Sala Basolato costs €800 on a weekday and €900 on a Saturday, and the loggia €1,000. The museum terrace costs €2,000 on a weekday and €3,000 on a Saturday, and the Roman theatre €3,000 and €4,000 (2022 tariff, still the one the comune links). The comune confirms the fee for the former council chamber. Couples who live abroad send a written request from six months before the date, and the comune replies within 30 days. Your declaration is made at the comune on an earlier day, never on the wedding day.

What these have in common

In every case the registrar conducts the ceremony in Italian, and if either of you does not speak Italian, the law requires an interpreter, who cannot be one of you. You also need two witnesses with identity documents. The paperwork you need depends on your nationality, not on the comune. In Florence the declaration is made at the comune’s wedding office at least two days before the wedding, by appointment and with your interpreter, and fees are refunded only if you cancel at least 30 days ahead. Both comuni take bookings from about six months ahead.

The outdoor settings on this page are the Giardino delle Rose in Florence, and the loggia, the museum terrace and the Roman theatre in Fiesole. What changes from one setting to the next is the price, the days it marries and how many dates there are.

If one of these places is the one you are picturing, or you have somewhere else around Florence in mind, book a call or message us on WhatsApp with your date and roughly how many guests, and we will find out what the comune there can offer.

Checked October 2026.

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