Embassy legalisation for use in Vietnam
Vietnam does not take an Italian stamp on trust. A paper is accepted there once Vietnam's own mission in Italy has put its mark on it, and that mark is only given after the Italian state has legalised the signature underneath. Document legalization for Vietnam is therefore a chain, and every link has to be in place before the next office will look at the file.
Vietnam consular requirements
The mission wants a complete file, not a loose paper: the original with a wet signature, the Italian marks, the duty stamp and, in most cases, a sworn Vietnamese translation bound to it. Embassy attestation for Vietnam is refused most often for small things, such as a copy that was never certified or a name spelled two ways across two papers in the same bundle.
The Catania to Vietnam route step by step
Start where the paper was born. The Comune, the court or a notary in Catania issues or certifies it. The Prefettura or the Procura della Repubblica then legalises that signature, depending on who signed. The €16 duty is paid per paper. Finally the bundle reaches Vietnam's embassy or consulate in Italy, which adds the mark the receiving desk in Vietnam is actually looking for.
Cost and timing for this route
Two clocks and two purses. The Italian clock is the 10–15 business day standard run, or 3–5 business days on the express route when a deadline is real. The Italian purse is the €16 tax stamp per paper. The consular fee sits beside it and is set by Vietnam's mission, so the size of the bundle, not the length of any single paper, drives the total.
What Vietnamese offices do with the file
Once in Vietnam the bundle is filed whole, usually with a passport copy and the local form. Employers and residence desks tend to keep the papers, which is why a second legalised set is worth having before you send the first. A file that arrives complete moves quickly; one missing the consular mark is not slow, it is simply refused and has to start again in Italy.