Ask the branch for a letter that will pass
The letter has to say something an office abroad can act on. Ask your branch in Catania for a signed sheet on its own headed paper, dated, naming the account holder and the standing being vouched for. A scan or a portal print-out carries no ink, so no desk downstream will stamp it.
People who ask how to legalize a Bank Reference Letter are usually short of time, because a visa or tender window is closing. Get the wording agreed with the receiving side before the branch prints it. Rewriting a letter after the first stamp means paying for the whole chain twice.
Which Italian desk stamps a bank letter
By default this sheet takes the administrative route, so it goes to the Prefettura, the state's office in the province. The Procura della Repubblica, sitting in the court, is kept for court judgments and notary deeds. Ask the receiving side which of the two marks they expect before you queue anywhere.
There is one fork worth knowing. If a notary certifies the bank officer's signature first, that certified sheet becomes a notary act, and a notary act follows the Procura route instead. Both endings exist in practice, so the letter's own wording decides the door. Get it in writing from the office that will read it.
The chain, the stamp and the wait
The embassy legalization of a Bank Reference Letter in Catania is two marks, laid one on the other. The Italian office signs off on the person who signed the letter. The consulate of the country that will read it then signs off on the Italian office. Neither desk reads the money figures.
Costs are small and fixed on the Italian side. To legalize a Bank Reference Letter in Catania you need a €16 tax stamp, the marca da bollo, plus the consulate's own fee on the day. Allow 10–15 business days, or 3–5 business days when the window is tight.
Who reads it abroad
Landlords, visa desks and tender boards all use the same sheet for one purpose: proof that money is where you say it is. The consular legalization of a Bank Reference Letter in Italy makes that proof usable outside the country. A school may want it before a place is held, and a lease office before keys change hands.
Does the consular step apply to you?
Only the receiving office can settle this. Whether the embassy attestation of a Bank Reference Letter in Catania is called for depends on the destination. Several countries take a single-step certification and want nothing more. Send the question to that authority in writing and keep the reply, because a clerk's word on the phone will not save the file later.