Transcribing my marriage in Italy

After many visits to the comune earlier this year and one visit to an empty office on Monday, I finally got an answer about our certificato di matrimonio (marriage certificate) this last Tuesday. I found out that it arrived on March 10th from the Italian Consulate in the States, but had not yet been trascritto (transcribed).

Living in Florence :: Transcribing my marriage in Italy

The woman I had been going to see for the past few months told me to go to another office to ask about our matrimonio getting trascritto. I quietly knocked on the door and said, "Permesso? (May I?)" A woman was sitting behind her desk and she looked up at me from behind her glasses without lifting her head. She too looked it up on the computer and said it hadn't yet been trascritto. She found our pratica (file) in a cabinet and said that she'd look into it. She wrote down my cell number in case there were any problems.

About 10 minutes later, the woman from the comune called me to say that she needs my certificato di divorzio (divorce certificate). She first said that I needed to get an apostille for it, but I told her that I can't get one out of the US. She said that I could go to the American Consulate and notarize an autocertificazione (self-declaration) stating that I did get a divorce and list all the dates, names, and places of both the marriage and the divorce. If I bring her that autocertificazione, she will be able to trascirverlo immediately.

I made an appointment to go today to the American Consulate to notarize my autocertificazione. I wrote up my autocertificazione in Italian, brought my passport with me and arrived at the American Consulate a few minutes late for my 8:30 a.m. appointment.

I left my apartment a bit late, but I also stopped to take a photo of the San Frediano in Cestello because I loved the reflection of it on the Arno. The man who greeted me at the door said that because I was late, he had to check and see if I could be let in. Luckily, he let me in and I waited in the little room for American citizens to meet with the notary public.

After I showed the woman behind the window my autocertificazione, she told me that they don't notarize anything written in Italian. She gave me another piece of paper and I had to translate it into English. By 9:25 a.m., I was out the door with my notarized document in English.

I'm hoping that the woman at the comune will accept the notarized document I have in English because I'd rather avoid sending my certificato di divorzio back to the States to get an apostille on it. It'll just be more time I'll have to wait to have my matrimonio become official in Italy. And, I have a feeling that I'd still have to translate my certificato di divorzio for them as well.

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