Embassy legalisation for use in Vietnam
A Vietnamese office has no way to judge an Italian signature, so it leans on a chain that ends with its own government. The Italian authority legalises the signature on the paper; Vietnam's mission in Italy then legalises that. Both stamps are physical and both are read at the far end. The shorthand for the second half is embassy attestation for Vietnam, and without it the Italian stamp is a purely domestic mark.
Vietnam consular requirements
Three conditions decide whether the mission will act. The paper has to be an original or a certified copy, the Italian legalisation has to be on it already, and the €16 tax stamp has to be shown as paid. Where the file will be read in Vietnamese, the sworn translation goes in the same package so a single consular fee covers both. Private instruments are notarised or certified earlier, before any of the state stamps.
The Bologna to Vietnam route step by step
The sequence is short but strict. The issuing body in Bologna releases a signed original. Then the Prefettura legalises administrative records, or the Procura della Repubblica legalises court and notarial ones, with a €16 marca da bollo fixed per document. Finally Vietnam's embassy or consulate in Italy applies the consular stamp against its fee. Break the order and the later desk has nothing to attach its stamp to.
Cost and timing for this route
Standard turnaround is 10–15 business days and express is 3–5 business days. Those windows describe work at the two offices, so add the days a courier spends between Bologna and the mission. The express route buys queue position, not a shorter chain, since the same desks do the same work. What you pay to legalize documents for Vietnam is one €30 state charge per sheet, waived on some records, plus the consular fee the mission sets.
What Vietnam expects to see
Vietnamese practice is document-led: the receiving body wants the original in front of it, with both stamps intact and a Vietnamese text where the language matters. Degrees, company papers and civil records make up most of what leaves Bologna, and each carries a signature the Italian office already has to hold. Where it does not, the issuing body deposits it or reissues the paper, and that step comes before everything else here.