
Photo: Eusebius · CC BY 3.0
Palazzo Vecchio
Civic palacePiazza della Signoria40 in the Sala Rossa; 240 in the Salone dei Cinquecento
Florence performs its civil marriages inside its own town hall, in rooms the rest of the world queues to tour. The Sala Rossa, remodelled in the 19th century when Florence was briefly the capital of Italy and still hung in reds, takes 40 and runs on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, with one Saturday afternoon and one Sunday morning added each month at a higher rate. The Salone dei Cinquecento, built in 1495 for the Republic's 500-member council and later frescoed by Vasari, seats 240 but comes up only one Thursday afternoon a month. The monumental rooms are supplied with tables and chairs and nothing else: any decoration needs an approved plan and €3 million of public liability cover, which is why most couples treat this as the ceremony and move the celebration elsewhere.
Married under Vasari's council ceiling










