Which copy of the deal travels
An apostille is a state sheet bound to your file. It says the hand that signed is the hand it claims to be, and it says nothing about your terms. You can apostille a commercial contract in Palermo once the signatures on it can be traced by a state desk. That one file is then the copy your reader abroad can rely on.
Firms asking how to apostille a commercial contract often send a scan of a scan. That never works. Choose the counterpart with wet ink, check that every annex named in the text is really attached, and count the pages. The paper you send is the paper the desk vouches for, so it must be complete on the day it goes in.
A private paper needs a public hand
Italy sorts these files by who signed, not by what the deal is worth. Papers issued and signed inside a public office go to the Prefettura (Prefecture), the state office in the province. Acts formed before a notary or a judge go to the Procura della Repubblica, which sits in the court building. A deal between two private firms starts in neither box.
So to apostille a commercial contract in Italy you may first need a notary to witness the signing, or to certify the hands afterwards. That step is what gives the state something to check. Ask your reader abroad how far they want this taken, because some accept a witnessed signature while others want the deal drawn up as a notarial act.
Cost and timing
The state asks for a €16 tax stamp per file, with some papers exempt, and that is the small part. The long part is people. Getting two boards to sign, booking a notary and waiting at a counter each take their own days, and none of them is fixed by law. Give us your closing date and we will map the legs backwards from it.
Where a stamped deal is asked for
Some countries will not record an agency or distribution deal until a stamped copy is filed. Tax offices abroad ask for one to allow a payment under it. A court or an arbitrator asks before treating the deal as proved. Lenders ask when a deal is offered as security.