Both names belong on one sheet
The point of this paper is to join two identities. A bank, a university or a registry abroad still holds you under the old name. Now it sees a new one, so it wants one official sheet that shows the link. Ask the registry office for the version that prints the former name as well as the current one. A sheet with only the new name proves nothing to them.
Where the record actually lives
A change of name in this country is allowed by decree and then written into the civil status register at the town hall. That register, not the decree in your drawer, is the source everyone else trusts. So the paper you take to be stamped is the extract the registry clerk prints and signs. Order it fresh rather than reusing a copy from an old file.
Which desk adds the stamp
A register extract is an administrative paper, so it belongs to the Prefettura, the state office in the province. Deeds signed before a notary and rulings signed by a judge go instead to the Procura della Repubblica. If you were given the decree itself rather than a register extract, say so at the counter, because the two papers can take different routes.
So, how to apostille a Legal Name Change Certificate? Get the signed extract. Then take it to the state office that holds the clerk's signature sample. Its staff match the two signatures and add the apostille. Nothing about your reason for changing names is examined at that desk.
The tax stamp, and nothing else
The apostille cost for a legal name change certificate in Bari is the €16 tax stamp. You buy it at a tobacconist and hand it in with the extract, or we buy it for you. Some papers are exempt, which the clerk confirms at the front of the queue. No official waiting time is published, so build a spare day or two into your plan.
What a stamped extract unlocks
People apostille a legal name change certificate in Bari to reopen doors that closed when the name moved. A diploma in the old name, a deed on a flat, a pension record: all of these can be put right once the link is proved. The same goes for a bank account held overseas or a residence file at a foreign town hall. Ask each body in writing which of your papers it wants to see alongside it.
Spelling, accents and being read
Check the extract against your passport before it goes anywhere. Accents, double consonants and a surname printed in capitals all cause queries at foreign desks, and the clerk can reprint the sheet on the spot. Once the stamp is on, a reprint means starting over.
Remember that the legalisation of a legal name change certificate in Bari covers the signature and the seal, not the sentences. Where the reading desk works in another tongue, it will ask for a sworn version of the text. Confirm the required language with the receiving office in writing, then have the translation sworn before a court here. You may also apostille a legal name change certificate in Italy in whichever province signed the extract.