Where you can legally marry in Rome
This page covers three places where Rome will legally marry couples who live abroad: the Sala Rossa on the Campidoglio, a former medieval church on the Celio, and the Sala Azzurra in Ostia, by the sea. In the Alban Hills south-east of the city, the comune (the local council) of Ariccia holds weddings in the summer dining hall and the park of Palazzo Chigi. These are examples: most comuni around Rome also marry couples from abroad, and venues, fees and days change from year to year. Rome runs its weddings through one central office and opens each venue on set days only.
A legal wedding in Italy has to take place somewhere the comune has approved: its own halls and gardens, or an outside venue it has authorised. Everything below is published by Roma Capitale or the Comune di Ariccia, so a wedding there is legal and counts at home.
The Campidoglio: the Sala Rossa in Michelangelo’s square
The Sala Rossa is on the ground floor of Palazzo dei Conservatori, on the Piazza del Campidoglio, the square Michelangelo designed on the Capitoline Hill above the Roman Forum. Rome’s mayor or a delegate conducts the ceremony, and you walk out into the piazza.
It seats 20, with space for about 70 standing. It holds weddings on Friday from 9:00 to 12:30 and 16:00 to 18:00, Saturday from 9:00 to 12:00 and 16:00 to 18:00, and Sunday from 9:00 to 12:30, and on no other day. It is indoors.
The Celio: a medieval church below Villa Celimontana
The Complesso Vignola Mattei is the former church of Santa Maria in Tempulo, on Via Valle delle Camene near the Baths of Caracalla. A Benedictine convent here is first recorded in 1155, and the remains of its bell tower are built into the outer walls. In the 17th century the Mattei family took it into their Villa Celimontana estate. Roma Capitale owns it, and it opens only for weddings.
It seats 25, with space for about 50 standing. It marries couples from Wednesday to Sunday in the mornings, with afternoons from 16:00 to 18:00 on Fridays and Saturdays all year and on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 June to 20 September. It closes on civil and religious holidays. The ceremony is indoors, in a deconsecrated church set in greenery.
Ostia: the Sala Azzurra by the sea
Ostia is part of the city of Rome, on the coast, and its district (Municipio X) has its own wedding venue. The Sala Azzurra, on Piazza Regina Pacis, takes about 40 guests and has a garden outside for photographs.
On weekdays the district’s wedding office agrees a morning or afternoon time with you; on Saturdays there is one slot, between 11:00 and 11:30; and on two Sundays a month it marries couples between 9:30 and 12:00.
What Rome charges
Rome sets one fee for all three venues, and the amount depends on where you live: residents pay least, and couples who live in another comune or abroad pay more, under a city resolution of December 2018 (Delibera di Giunta 245). For couples who live abroad, the comune’s fee runs from about €1,392 to €1,624 depending on the season and the day (as summarised in the US Embassy’s guidance).
Bookings go through the Ufficio Matrimoni di Roma Capitale on Via Petroselli, near the Campidoglio.
Ariccia: the Chigi palace and its park
Ariccia sits on the edge of the Alban Hills, about 25 km south-east of Rome, and the comune marries couples at Palazzo Chigi, the palace of the papal Chigi family on the town’s main square. Indoors, the Sala da Pranzo d’Estate is the summer dining hall, painted and hung with leather, seating 50 with space for 80 standing. Outdoors, the ceremony takes place in Parco Chigi on the avenue beside the Uccelliera, an aviary built in 1628, with space for up to 200.
For couples who live outside Italy, both settings cost €800 on a weekday and €900 at weekends and on public holidays (price list updated January 2025). The comune’s rules set start times on the hour, at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00 or 16:00, 17:00 and 18:00, with each ceremony limited to 30 minutes, and a quarter of the fee is kept if you cancel. Guests park in the Bernini car park under the Ponte Monumentale and take the lift up to the palace.
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. The paperwork you need depends on your nationality, not on the comune. Rome’s three venues are indoors, with the Ostia garden for photographs afterwards; the one outdoor setting on this page is the park at Ariccia. What changes from one place to the next is the setting, the price, the days it marries and how far ahead it takes bookings.
If one of these places is the one you are picturing, or you have somewhere else in or near Rome 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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