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Italian Wedding at Villa Vistarenni

My Italian Wedding in Tuscany at Villa Vistarenni

by The Travel Captain

My husband and I both wanted an Italian wedding.  He grew up in Italy and I love most everything about Italy.  Soooo that was that.  The theme for our wedding would be family, friends, food, wine.  Plus the gorgeous Italian countryside wonderfully showcased at the wedding venue, Villa Vistarenni, and our sincere love for each of these things.  That’s it.  No registry, no bridal this, no groomsmen that.  Like Italian food, divine and perfect in quality and simplicity.

The words “getting married in Italy” illicit so much imagery for me.  Vineyards, wine, rows of cyprus trees, old villas, rolling hills and sunsets.  A Tuscan wedding at a villa in Chianti was what I wanted.  Family and friends would fly in from all over the world to spend four nights with us at the picturesque, 17th century Villa Vistarenni.

This was not my first time getting married.  Exit the page if the urge to pass judgment creeps up.  I had a four day destination wedding in Bali filled with events and formalities and people I hadn’t seen in years.  It sounds lovely and it was lovely.  But I get exhausted just thinking back to the months and months of planning that went into it.  And for what?  We’re not married anymore.

The planning for our Italian wedding took about 6 weeks.  The guest list? 25 people.  The paperwork for the wedding? Not so simple.  More on that below.

Read The Perfect Tuscan Winery to see what we did after the wedding.

 

Italian Wedding at Villa Vistarenni

Villa Vistarenni

Italian Wedding at Villa Vistarenni

Villa Vistarenni is ideal.  I only came to learn of it through Google images once I plugged in the search for Tuscany wedding.  A blog, go figure, further revealed to me more of the details.

Set deep into the woods an hour outside of Florence in Radda, Chianti, I had a feeling and booked the villa without a visit.  There was something about those double staircases cascading down the rear of the villa overlooking the countryside.

We rented out the 16 room villa and accompanying cottage for a few days.  Everyone had their own room.

 

Villa Vistarenni has tennis courts, a swimming pool and produce their own wine.  We finished a case of their wine the manager so generously left for us that first evening.  I also appreciated the upkeep and modern yet old world feel of the villa interiors.  Many villas in the countryside are incredibly charming.  But when looking at the interiors, pay careful attention if you plan on staying overnight.

 

Italian Wedding at Villa Vistarenni

photo by Rob Cantave

Grounds at Villa Vistarenni

An ideal backdrop for our Italian wedding.

Choosing Food for Our Italian Wedding in Tuscany

Now this is an important one.  Italian cuisine needs to be showcased in all its glory.  A slight hiccup is that we had guests with a bevy of nutritional and religious requirements.  Some didn’t eat gluten, others no pork and a couple were vegetarian.

After careful consideration and a food tasting, catering from a restaurant in the greater Siena area known as Asinello turned out to be a fantastic choice.  They obliged all our requests and everyone experienced the delights of seasonal Tuscan fare.  Asinello supplied us with fantastic wines for the evening and the best Chantilly cream cake I ever tasted.  Ever.

Italian wedding

Saffron Risotto with cinta senese (famous Tuscan black pig) as one of the starters

Italian wedding

Wedding Dinner at Villa Vistarenni

Paperwork for Americans Getting Married In Italy

It’s not entirely easy to have an Italian wedding in Italy.  This is especially true if you’re non resident and/or not of Italian descent.  We had our pictures posted at the local church in my husband’s hometown in Italy for two weeks prior.  This is needed in order to get approval by the town hall for marriage.  The process is known as  “Posting Banns.”

So make sure you follow all the steps.  Italy is certainly not one of those places where you come to marry on a whim.  Here are some important documents you must have beforehand:

Before you arrive in Italy, you must have:

  1. A Valid US passport
  2. An original Birth Certificate with an Apostille stamp.  Translate to Italian by a legal translator showing the names of both parents
  3. Evidence of termination of a previous marriage
  4. Atto Notorio witnessed by 2 people. This is a declaration which states that there is no obstacle to marriage, according to the laws of which the citizen is subject in the United States
  5. All documents originating outside of Italy must be translated.  Authenticate them at the nearest Italian Consulate having jurisdiction over the place of issuance in the U.S.

Once you are in Italy, you must get:

  1. Dichiarazione Giurata aka Certificate of No Impediment, A declaration required by Italian law which states that “there are no impediments,” or that one is free to marry, according to the laws of the State of which the citizen is a resident.
  2. Declaration of Intention

Banns are posted once you file the Declaration of Intention to Marry.  Please visit Americans Getting Married in Italy for more info.  Hope you found “My Italian Wedding in Tuscany” fun and informative.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions in the section below.

This post is not sponsored.

 

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