Why do you hand me a blue pen when I've always heard that notarial deeds must be signed in black?

This is a question I hear surprisingly often.

I hand a pen to a client and, instead of signing, they pause for a moment, look at it and ask:

"Notary, shouldn't this be a black pen?"

Sometimes they add:

"I've always been told that notarial deeds have to be signed in black ink."

At that point I usually smile, because I know exactly where the question comes from.

The belief that black ink is compulsory is remarkably widespread, and many people are genuinely surprised to find a blue pen waiting for them on my desk.

The interesting part is that Italian law does not prescribe a particular colour.

What it requires is something much more important.

The signature must be made using permanent, indelible ink capable of preserving the document over time.

In other words, the purpose of the rule is to ensure the long-term integrity of the deed, not to require black ink instead of blue.

Over the years, many notarial offices have chosen to use black pens exclusively. It is a perfectly reasonable practice and one that has gradually become almost a tradition.

In my office, however, I have always preferred to focus on what the law actually requires: an ink that is permanent, stable and suitable for preserving a public document for generations.

That is why you may find yourself signing with a blue pen.

It is not a mistake.

It is not an eccentric habit.

It is simply a different choice that fully complies with Italian legal requirements while reflecting the way I have chosen to work throughout my professional life.

There is, however, another reason why blue ink has remained on my desk for so many years.

Many years ago, during the signing of a deed, one of my clients quietly refused to sign because every pen available contained black ink.

Naturally, I asked whether there was a problem.

He told me that the last document he had signed using black ink had been connected with the death of his father.

From that day onwards, he had promised himself that he would never again use black ink to sign anything important.

His words stayed with me.

After confirming that blue indelible ink fully complied with the requirements of Italian law, I had blue pens brought into the office so that the signing could proceed without causing him unnecessary distress.

Since that day, blue has simply become the colour I instinctively reach for whenever I hand a pen to a client.

Perhaps that is why, when someone hesitates before signing and asks whether blue ink is really permitted, I do not limit myself to giving a purely technical explanation.

I remember that every person sitting across the table has their own story, their own memories and sometimes deeply personal reasons for attaching importance to what might appear to be a very small detail.

The law provides the framework.

Our profession applies it with care.

But there is always room for a little humanity.

Sometimes even a simple pen is enough to remind us that, behind every notarial deed, there is first and foremost a human story.