Order the casellario extract
The certificato del casellario giudiziale, the record of any conviction, is issued by the court. In Milan you order it at the Procura della Repubblica or through the online service the courts run. Anyone asking how to legalize a Criminal Record Check must hold a signed paper extract, since a screen copy carries nothing to stamp. Bring your identity card and, if you are asking for someone else, their written mandate.
Say that the extract will be used abroad when you order it. The clerk then issues the version that carries a hand signature and the court seal. Check the spelling of your name and your date of birth on the sheet. A wrong letter is no small thing here, because the whole point of the paper is identity.
Which desk legalizes a court record
This is a judicial act, so the Procura della Repubblica legalizes it, at the court whose district issued it. That is handy: the same building both prints the extract and seals it. Papers from the town hall take the other road, to the Prefettura (Prefecture). The consular legalization of a Criminal Record Check in Italy always follows the court stamp, and never replaces it.
The consulate step
With the court stamp on the sheet, book the mission of the country that asked for it. Their officer checks the Italian seal against a sample and adds their own. The embassy legalization of a Criminal Record Check in Milan is handled by that mission, and the counter rules are theirs alone. Many want the applicant to appear in person, because the paper is about them.
How fresh the extract has to be
This is the paper that goes stale fastest. Readers abroad often refuse an extract more than three months old, and some cut that to one month. Order it last, once the mission has given you an appointment, so the clock runs while you queue rather than while you wait.
Work backwards from the date you must hand the file in. Book the mission first, then count back for the court stamp, then order the extract. Doing it the other way round is the commonest reason a file is refused, and the only fix is to run the whole chain again.
Cost and days
A €16 tax stamp (marca da bollo) goes on the file for the Italian stage. The court charges its own duty for the extract itself, and the mission adds a consular fee it sets. Buy the tax stamp at a tobacconist before you arrive, because the counter will not sell you one.
The whole run usually takes 10–15 business days. A visa slot or a start date at a new job rarely allows that, so a lane of 3–5 business days is open. The mission's own queue is the part that cannot be hurried, so hold that appointment before anything else.
Who asks to see it
People legalize a Criminal Record Check in Milan for a work permit, a residence visa, a licence to teach or nurse, or an adoption file. Each reader looks at a different thing. An employer wants a clean sheet. An immigration desk wants the extract in a set format with the seals in a set order. Read their brief before you order anything.
Nothing here is automatic: the destination decides whether a mission must sign, so get the receiving authority to say so in writing. The embassy attestation of a Criminal Record Check in Milan is a wasted morning when the reader is content with the court seal. Ask them which language they want as well, and whether a bound translation has to travel with the sheet.