What legalisation is and what it is for
Legalisation is the attestation of the legal capacity of the public official who has signed a document. There is frequent confusion between a sworn translation and a legalised translation. A sworn translation is made before the Court by an official translator and may subsequently be legalised for the foreign country of destination. Where the sworn translation concerns a foreign document translated into Italian, no legalisation of the translation is required by law; it is however advisable to ensure that a foreign civil-status certificate has been legalised in the issuing country, so as to give it full legal effect in Italy.
Legalisation therefore consists in the attestation of the legal capacity of the public official who has signed a document (for example a civil-status certificate, an affidavit, a certified copy or a marriage extract) and of the authenticity of the signature.
Who legalises in Italy
The Prefecture, by delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, legalises the signatures on administrative documents and affixes the Apostille for the countries that have acceded to the Hague Convention. The Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court legalises, and Apostilles, judicial and notarial documents, including the records of sworn translations. Documents issued abroad and intended for use in Italy are legalised by the Italian diplomatic or consular missions in the country of origin, unless the country has acceded to the Hague Convention, in which case the Apostille is sufficient.
Rome
In Rome, Apostilles and legalisations for administrative documents are issued by the Prefecture (Via Stendhal 1), and those for judicial and notarial documents, including sworn translations, by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Rome. We handle the entire procedure, from the sworn translation to the Apostille or legalisation and, where required, the subsequent consular step.
The complete Italian text is available on the Italian page.