The death of an Italian citizen abroad shall be registered in Italy.
The documents required to register the death are the following:
- death certificate (in original) issued by the competent Civil Status Office, duly legalised and translated (see section Translation and Legalisation of Documents) (v. sezione Traduzione e Legalizzazione dei documenti);
- documentation proving the nationality of the deceased person (if not entered into the Consular Register).
Alternatively, the deed – duly legalised and translated – may be submitted directly to the relevant Italian Municipality (see Article 12, paragraph 11, Presidential Decree No. 396/2000).
Certificates issued by countries that have adhered to the Vienna Convention of September 8, 1976, which provides for the issuing of a multilingual form, are exempt from legalisation and translation. These countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. It should be noted that the aforementioned Vienna Convention cannot currently be applied to Greece, which, although being a signatory country, has not yet ratified it.