Almost every Italian application that relies on foreign documents needs them in Italian: citizenship by descent or by marriage, long-stay visas, study, work and retirement. A translation on its own is not enough. It has to be made official, either by an Italian consulate abroad or by a sworn declaration in Italy, and the original document usually needs an apostille first.
This guide explains the two routes, when each is used and how to avoid paying twice. It was checked against consulate and Interior Ministry pages in October 2026. Requirements vary between consulates, so always follow the list of the office that will receive your file.
Which documents need translating
- Citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis): birth, marriage and death records along the line of descent, divorce decrees, name changes and the certificate showing whether the Italian ancestor naturalized.
- Citizenship by marriage (iure matrimonii): your birth certificate, criminal record checks from each country you have lived in, and the marriage record if it was registered abroad.
- Visas and permits: police records, degrees and transcripts, employment contracts, pension statements and bank letters, depending on the visa.
- Retirement: pension and income records for an elective residence visa. Our guide to the best towns to retire in Puglia covers the move itself.
A change to citizenship by descent in 2025
Decree-Law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted into Law 74 of 23 May 2025, narrowed citizenship by descent for people born abroad who hold another citizenship. In most cases, a claim now succeeds only if a parent or grandparent held Italian citizenship exclusively, at the applicant’s birth or at their own death, or if other narrow conditions apply. The Interior Ministry’s circular of 28 May 2025 sets out the details. Check that you still qualify before you pay for a single translation. Consulates now charge €600 per application.
Step one: the apostille
Before translation, each foreign public document needs an apostille from the country that issued it, under the 1961 Hague Convention. In the US that is the Secretary of State of the state where the record was issued, or the US Department of State for federal documents. The translation should cover the apostille as well as the document.
Two exceptions save time. Countries that are not party to the Hague Convention use consular legalization instead. Civil status records issued on the EU multilingual standard forms, or on the international multilingual extracts of the 1976 Vienna Convention, need neither legalization nor translation.
Route one: certification at an Italian consulate
If you apply abroad, the consulate usually wants the translation certified as conforming to the original (certificazione di conformità della traduzione). Many consulates publish a list of local translators, although some accept any competent translator and check the result themselves.
- Gather the originals, each with its apostille.
- Have each document and its apostille translated into Italian.
- Take or send the originals and translations to the consulate for your area, following its instructions.
- Pay the consular fee for each certification.
- Collect the certified translations and keep them with the originals.
Route two: a sworn translation in Italy
If you file in Italy, at a comune, a Prefettura or a Questura, the usual form is a sworn translation (traduzione giurata or asseverata). The translator signs a sworn statement (verbale di giuramento) before a court clerk, a giudice di pace or a notary, accepting legal responsibility for the accuracy of the work.
Stamp duty applies: a €16 marca da bollo for every four pages, or every 100 lines, counting the translation and the sworn statement, unless the subject is exempt by law. Each court sets its own appointments and practical rules, so the translator will normally book and handle the swearing for you.
A careful translator will ask for clean scans of both sides of every page, apostille included, before quoting. Send them all at once, in the order of the family line, and the quote comes back faster.
Avoid paying twice
- Ask the receiving office which form it accepts before you commission anything. A consulate-certified translation and a sworn Italian translation are not always interchangeable.
- Check names, dates and places across every record first. A misspelled surname on one certificate has to be corrected at the source, not in the translation.
- Keep originals, apostilles and translations together, in order, with copies. Offices often keep the originals.
For the next steps after you arrive, see our guides to the codice fiscale and the digital nomad visa.
