Which of the two papers you need
Ending a marriage in Italy leaves two traces. One is the sentenza handed down by the Tribunale di Padova, the ruling itself, with its reasoning and its date. The other is the marriage record held at the Comune, which a registrar marks once the ruling is reported to them. Both prove the same thing, and readers abroad rarely accept whichever you happen to have.
The annotation on the marriage record
Town halls abroad usually prefer the Comune sheet. It is short, it states the marital status as the register holds it today, and it needs no reading of legal reasoning. Ask the Comune di Padova for an extract of the marriage record that shows the annotation, and check with your own eyes that the annotation is printed on it.
That check matters because reporting takes time. Where the ruling is recent, the registrar may not have written it in yet, and an extract ordered too early shows a marriage still standing. Anyone working out how to legalize a Divorce Decree in a hurry should phone the register office before paying for anything.
The judgment goes to the Procura
If your reader wants the ruling itself, ask the court registry for a certified copy and, where finality matters, for a note that the appeal window has closed. A ruling is a judicial act, so the Procura della Repubblica is the office that legalises the clerk's signature. Expect embassy legalization of a Divorce Decree in Padua to run through that counter whenever the sentenza is the paper being sent.
When the Prefettura takes it instead
The Comune extract is a different animal. A civil registrar signed it, which makes it an office paper rather than a judicial one, and office papers belong to the Prefettura, also written Prefecture. So the choice of paper decides the queue. Order the extract and you will be at the Prefettura di Padova; order the ruling and you will be at the court.
Fees and waiting
One charge is fixed and the rest are not. The Italian side wants a €16 marca da bollo, sold over the counter at any tobacconist. The court registry may charge for a copy, and every consulate names its own fee. From the first counter to the consular seal, 10–15 business days is a fair plan, or 3–5 business days where a mission keeps an urgent desk.
Why people need it
The reasons are personal and usually urgent. A registrar abroad will not publish a new marriage without proof that the old one ended. Pension offices, banks and schools ask when a name or a household changes. Immigration files ask for it as a matter of course, which is why so many people go looking for consular legalization of a Divorce Decree in Italy at short notice.
Whether that consular step is owed at all depends on the destination country, so ask the receiving authority and keep the written reply. If a sworn version is wanted, arrange it before the Italian desk signs, and you will legalize a Divorce Decree in Padua once rather than twice. Confirm in writing which language the office reads, then book embassy attestation of a Divorce Decree in Padua for the pair.