clint

as far as I know it has to be taken to a notary in the area of residency at time of death it the notary dies before the testator and there is no other partner in the firm I suppose one takes it to another practice

dmu

Isn't it the same as in France, i.e. Notarial Offices either pass down from father to son/daughter, or are taken over by another Notary? In which case the latter "inherit" all clients' files if the original Notary dies. If you change Notaries for any reason, the second one will ask the original one for all the pertinent files.
Off-topic, but France seems to have the highest Inheritance Tax rates, esp. the 60% for unrelated named heirs, which is sobering for unmarried couples with children on both sides.... Be happy to live in Italy!!

scot47

Get competent legal advice. In countries where the Civil Code is based on the Code Napoleon you cannot simply leave things to who you wish.

Tweedpipe

In may be worth checking that couples who are not married although in an official legal partnership (associazione legale?) will not be disadvantaged when it comes to the death of a partner. In France the legal partnership is known as pacsé.
The following may be of interest to some, if nothing else to check and ensure that it does not apply in Italy.
My French mother-in-law and her elderly partner were pacséd (in an official legal partnership). For some time her partner had been trying to pursuade her to marry him, but as she was elderly she couldn't see the point. He was particularly well-off financially, had no wife or children, and knew that marriage would have significant advantages in the event of his death. Despite his persuasion she declined the offer. They had made a will leaving their assets to the next of kin. When the partner died, my m-i-l inherited all that had been stipulated in the will, property and a healthy sum. It was only just afterwards whilst my wife was sorting out the neccessary details with the notaire, that it became known that the m-i-l would not benefit from any of her partner's pension as they were not married. There were 3, the state pension, a works pension, and a military pension. Documents afterwards showed that the combined pensions ran to a very healthy 5 figures. Fortunately even without his pensions, she was left with comfortable assets, but the message here is that even if one's knocking on a bit, the act of getting married could be very advantageous.
If there are any rich widows reading this...........

Pica

modicasa

When a notary dies or retires, the documentation goes to the archivio notarile in the nearest town.
The whole point of holographic wills is that they aren't expensive. They are handwritten on a bit of paper. If you want to do a will with a notary then it is a notarile act and there's tax and the notary to pay, but a holographic will is a slip of paper - the stuff of Agatha Christie and Midsomer plots. While France and ITaly both nominally share the code napoleon, they are very very different, there is more to divide them than join them given 200 years of law making in the interim.