Beach Wedding in Italy 💒 Venues and locations

Getting married on a beach in Italy: it feels like a movie scene. It is a growing trend among Italians and also among foreigners, who choose Italy as their wedding destination.

More and more wedding planners and locations offer this option. The Italian coast is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in Europe: sunny, warm, even at sunset. Perfect for a special day.

Can you celebrate a beach wedding in Italy?

On Italian beaches, you can get married with a symbolic ceremony, and even with a civil wedding, in the areas designated by the town hall.

Under Italian law, municipalities can choose different official places where to perform civil wedding ceremonies. Among these places can also be a beach, if it is within the area of the municipality.
Of course, many Italian villages welcomed new law positively.

Civil wedding ceremony on the beach in Italy

A growing number of Italian municipalities offer the possibility of celebrating a civil wedding ceremony on the beach.
These municipalities reserve portions of the beach specifically for the celebration of weddings, which are officiated by a municipal official.

👉 Note: some municipalities have a hybrid formula, where the ceremony is split in two parts. First you have a civil wedding in the in the town hall, with a brief ceremony. After that the ceremony is repeated on the beach as a symbolic wedding for all the guests, again performed by the municipal official.

For many, such mixed solution is of course not ideal: the emotion of the ceremony is only one, and by repeating it, the romance is lost.

There is no official list of coastal places where it is possible to celebrate a civil wedding ceremony on the beach; on this page we have collected some of the locations and venues.

By checking with the municipality, you can find if the weddings on the beach are celebrated regularly and therefore if there is a well functioning organization. In this case, you can delegate the bureaucracy to the wedding planner or to the structure that arranges the wedding reception.

How much does a beach wedding in Italia cost?

The fee charged by Italian municipalities for the celebration of a civil wedding ceremony on the beach is not particularly high, although it varies by region. At the Riviera Romagnola, the price ranges from 200 to 500 euros: it depends on the location and the day of the year. Often the service also includes details like the arrangement of the chairs for the guests.

One example: this is the regulation for civil ceremonies of the municipality of Gabicce Mare, in Emilia Romagna. In Gabicce, civil ceremonies are celebrated in seven different locations, two of which are on the beach: Sottomonte beach and the free beach.

In Gabicce Mare, booking a civil wedding ceremony costs only 100-200 euros depending on the time of day; with 50 euros more, the municipality takes care of extra services like arranging the chairs.
Sounds like a great deal!

Symbolic wedding on the beach in Italy

In Italy many private beaches, restaurants and beach clubs offer the possibility to celebrate a symbolic wedding.
This is a rather practical solution because the ceremony takes place on the beach, a short distance from the venue of the wedding banquet.

In this case, the ceremony is just symbolic, it does not carry legal value. This is because the location is not among those that the municipality recognizes for civil wedding ceremonies.

Usually the spouses have been previously married in town hall; then they perform a symbolic ceremony in a romantic location in front of all the guests.
A symbolic wedding can be officiated by anyone, it doesn't need to be a municipality official. The person officiating a symbolic wedding is often a friend or family member of the spouses.

As we wrote above, this solution is not ideal for many. Please note that most private venues that offer the celebration of beach weddings refer to symbolic ceremonies, and not to civil weddings.

A religious marriage ceremony on the beach in Italy is not allowed

For the Catholic religion, you can only marry in a consecrated place. As much as we like the beach, it is not considered suitable.

To recap: on many Italian beaches you can get married with a symbolic ceremony; many seaside venues offer this service. In some of these you can even legally get married, celebrating a civil wedding ceremony, within the spaces designated by the municipality.

The most popular Italian beaches to get married

We have selected some of the locations on the most exclusive Italian beaches to host a wedding, in different regions of the peninsula.

Beach wedding in Sassari, Sardinia

The town of Sassari, located on the northwest coast of Sardinia, is one of the most popular beach wedding destinations in Italy.

As of 2017, anyone can celebrate a civil wedding on two beaches in the city of Sassari: Porto Ferro and Argentiera. These are in addition to other enchanting locations, such as the Monserrato Park and the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale.

Unlike the normal town hall, a ceremony in these locations will bring some extra costs.

Beach wedding in Taormina, Sicily

Taormina and the Isola Bella are among the most popular locations for destination weddings, chosen above all by British and American couples.

The municipality of Taormina does not celebrate civil ceremonies on the beach, but there are many professionals (including wedding planners and restaurants) who can help you organize your dream wedding ceremony, on the sea of Sicily.

Getting married on the beach in Paestum, Campania

For inspiration, a pastel-colored wedding in Peastum, not far from the Cilento National Park.

Here weddings are celebrated by the sea on a private beach, with an organization all-inclusive, ranging from the venue to the wedding planner.

Civil wedding ceremony on the beach in Tuscany

Also in Tuscany, a number of municipalities offer the opportunity of getting legally married on the beach. One of the locations is the town of Viareggio. In addition to being an elegant venue for receptions on the beach, the Costa dei Barbari is a town hall and therefore authorized to celebrate civil wedding ceremonies.

A dream wedding venue on the beach in Livorno

A fabulous place to celebrate a wedding is Villa Parisi, on the beach of Livorno. The venue is located on a promontory overlooking the sea, surrounded by the Mediterranean scrub.

The villa enjoys access to a private beach, where the wedding ceremony takes place.

The best time for a beach wedding? At sunset, probably

The timing of the wedding ceremony is also important, especially if the ceremony takes place on the beach. Depending on the season, the central hours of the day can be too hot for the bridal couple and guests.

Furthermore, photos look better in the morning or evening light. Often weddings on the beach are celebrated just before sunset, in an even more romantic setting and with a temperature pleasant for everyone.