Your first step should be to contact your home country’s consulate in Italy. They will advise you on the specific steps you need to take, including the preparation of the atto notorio.

You’ll submit your declaration of intent to marry to the local marriage office in the city’s town hall where your marriage will be performed. This declaration will go to the civil registrar. A translator should attend if you don't speak Italian. You’re officially invited to set the date of the wedding after this intent is declared.

You should plan the do this at least three weeks in advance of your wedding. Civil notifications must be posted for two consecutive weeks, including two Sundays before a wedding can take place. If neither party is an Italian citizen or resident of Italy, you may contact the office to waive this requirement. You might be able to expedite your waiting period to as little as a day, depending on the local town hall regulations.

For Catholic weddings specifically, you may have to conform to the rules of your local parish, as well as the parish where you intend to marry. Plan to submit all of your religious documents to the local Italian marriage documents no later than seven weeks prior to your wedding date. They must be processed at your consulate and with the Bishop. Contact your local parish and the parish where you'll marry for specific advice.

At the wedding, you'll sign your legal marriage license. You will be given an official marriage certificate that's authorized by the mayor in the municipality where you marry. After the marriage, you should plan to visit the town hall again to present the marriage certificate. There you'll receive an Apostille stamp which verifies the document and contains a translated copy of the certificate into English.