Two routes, one of which is closing
There are two ways a foreign desk can trust an Italian paper. The long way sends it through the Italian state and then through the receiving country's consulate. The short way is the apostille, a single certificate that does the same job in one stamp. Vietnam is moving from the first to the second, and the day it moves is 11 September 2026.
Where Vietnam stands right now
Vietnam's accession year is 2026, but a treaty binds a country only once it enters into force there. Until 11 September 2026 nothing has changed on the ground: a paper from Florence still needs the consulate. Reading the accession as an open door is the single most common mistake, and it costs a returned file. An apostille from Italy to Vietnam works from that day, not before it.
The Florence to Vietnam route step by step
Order the copy, stamp the duty, get the state signature, then the consular one. In Florence the split between offices matters: the Prefettura for public records, the Procura for anything a notary or a judge signed. Papers cross the city between the two, so a file with both kinds inside splits in two for a while and joins up again before it flies.
Fees, and where the weeks actually go
The Italian fee is small and fixed: €16 a paper in duty, with exemptions for certain kinds. The wait is where the cost really sits. Every extra copy is another line at the same desk, and the consular queue runs on its own rhythm. Florence sits on fast rail links, which trims the travel, but it does nothing about the queue at the far end.
What the Vietnamese side wants in the envelope
Send the original with its stamps and a Vietnamese translation, kept together as the court bound them. Diacritics carry meaning in Vietnamese, so a name typed without them can read as a different word. The apostille requirements for Vietnam say nothing about that, yet it is what actually holds files up at the counter. Check the spelling of every name against the passport before the bundle leaves Florence.