Start with the court's own copy
Your first stop is the clerk's office at the court in Bari. Ask for a certified copy of the ruling, not the loose sheet you were handed after the hearing. The clerk prints it, signs it, and presses the court seal on it. Only a signed and sealed copy can carry a Hague stamp later.
People often ask how to apostille a Divorce Decree once they no longer live in the city. You can name a relative or a lawyer in a short written mandate and let them collect the sealed copy. The clerk hands it to the person you named. Keep the mandate dated and plain.
Which counter signs a court ruling
A ruling from a judge is a judicial act. It therefore goes to the Procura della Repubblica, the prosecutor's office attached to the court, and not to the Prefettura. The Prefettura is the state's local office and it stamps administrative papers such as birth or address records. A ruling taken to the wrong desk simply comes back to you.
The rule holds wherever you apostille a Divorce Decree in Italy: the stamp is added where the act was formed. A ruling made in Bari therefore stays inside the Bari court district and cannot be stamped in Rome. Plan for that if you have since moved to another region or abroad.
Proof that the ruling can no longer be appealed
Offices abroad rarely want a ruling that is still open to appeal. Ask the clerk for the note that the ruling has become final, the passaggio in giudicato. It is one short line, stamped and dated on the copy itself. Without that line the desk abroad may hand your file back, even though the Hague stamp on it is perfectly good.
What the stamp costs
The apostille cost for a Divorce Decree in Bari is the €16 tax stamp, the marca da bollo, bought at a tobacconist and handed in with the file. Some papers are exempt, so ask at the counter before you spend anything. No waiting time is published for this counter, so treat the trip as one that may need a second visit.
Who asks to see a stamped ruling
Most readers want the legalisation of a Divorce Decree in Bari for one of three jobs. One is to marry again in another country. Another is to correct a civil status entry held abroad. The third is to back a visa or a pension claim. Each receiving body then adds its own extras, such as a recent copy or a sworn version, so ask them in writing before you travel.
Getting it read on the other side
The stamp proves the signature on the ruling is genuine. It says nothing about the words inside, so the desk that receives it may want the text turned over into the language it works in. Confirm the required language with the receiving office in writing. Then have the text sworn before a court here, so the wording itself is on oath.
One last check before you apostille a Divorce Decree in Bari. Read the names and dates on the sealed copy against your passport, letter by letter. A dropped middle name, or a birth date typed the wrong way round, is a common reason a file is refused far from home. A fix at the court takes one visit; a refusal abroad costs far more.