Big News


Big News

Monday, September 28th, 2020

Yes, a major news flash! Laura and I are getting married on October 9th.

We had talked about this since late winter and since I needed to go to the consulate in Firenze (Florence) in late April to have some documents notarized for the sale of my house in Oakland I decided to complete the document (“dichiarazione giurata” – sworn statement) that must be notarized at the consulate and had that done too. At the consulate they told me that there is a time limit of the validity of said document (from one to two months, depending on the city) and I decided to take the chance and paid the $50 to have it notarized. As it turned out it was still valid when we went to the marriage office just about 2 weeks ago. I still had to have it “legalized” at the Prefettura which translates to Prefecture and I have no idea what that is. Then I need an “atto notorio” (affidavit) in the presence of a “notario”, a kind of lawyer here (with fees to match) in which two people who know me swear that they know me and there is no obstacle to the marriage. So after all of this bureaucratic nonsense – some of which is because I’m not an Italian citizen, finally we went to the marriage bureau at the ” Comune” (city hall) and presented the documents for review. They approved the documents along with the usual signatures and seals and like many bureaucratic stuff a “marca da bollo” (tax stamp) of 16 euros. They then publish a wedding announcement on a bulletin board near the office so that if anyone has reason to object they can – I think that it stays there for 8 days or something like that and for all I know it is published somewhere else. So shortly thereafter they notified us that the date for the wedding is on October 9th in the “Sala Rossa” (red room) in the Comune where weddings are held. In Italy a civil ceremony is required to be legal and some people opt to have a duplicate ceremony in a church which is purely symbolic.

A previous wedding in the Sala Rossa

The wedding is officiated by someone from the city council or possibly even the mayor and in this period the attendees are limited to 16 including us, the officiant and the required two witnesses – in this case my, and by now our, friends Monica and Gianluca. I’ve also invited 3 others so that will be 8 total in the room.

The time is noon and there is no cost and they offer live streaming of the event. So we opted for that but I have yet to figure out exactly how to get the streaming to work. It requires Javascript and Adobe Flash Player and I’ll continue to work on it. Hopefully Laura’s daughters will be able to view it as well as her friends in Torino and perhaps other friends here and even in the U.S.

If you are interested leave a comment and I can give you some further details.

10 Responses to “Big News”

  1. Abby Pollak Says:

    Congratulations in advance to both of you — especially for not having lost your sanity during the paper processing!

  2. Joe Says:

    Actually the bureaucracy for this wasn’t that bad. The absolute worst is the permesso di soggiorno that I need to do every year.

    Joe

  3. Joy O'Neal Says:

    Congratulations!!
    That is exciting news, and I would love to see you get married via screening! Let me know what to do! Much happiness to you both! Joy

  4. Joe Says:

    I’ll send an email with a link. Keep in mind that in the central time zone it will be 5:00 AM!

  5. Susan R Frey Says:

    Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

  6. Joe Says:

    Thanks, it’s never too late.

    Joe

  7. Cynthia Salamy Says:

    Congratulations, Giuseppe! What wonderful news! Much happiness to you both. You certainly have created a great life for yourself.
    Stay well.
    Hugs, Cynthia

  8. Joe Says:

    Thanks Cynthia and it’s true that I’m becoming more Italian. I plan to live here the rest of my life.

    Joe

  9. Peter Hillen Says:

    Hi Joe, Best wishes to Laura and you !! Be sure to send the link so we can “attend” 2020 style.
    Peter

  10. Joe Says:

    I think that I sent it. In any case the new blog post has a bunch of photos.

    Joe

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