Italian mayor chats up TomKat wedding

Bracciano's mayor said she had given the couple a small silver sculpture of the castle as a gift, and photographs posted on the town's Web site late Thursday showed it was engraved with the word Bracciano and Saturday's date.

The congratulatory card that went with it read: "A sincere note in sign of gratitude from the city of Bracciano, for having chosen it as the place where to crown your dream of love."

Riccioni said she would like to give them honorary citizenship "because they have brought so much to our little village."

"When we met, they seemed to me to be far more normal people than what I believed. I think all this secrecy depends on them wanting to keep their marriage private and intimate," the mayor said, sparking laughter in the room filled with the journalists who have been trying for days to find clues about how the wedding will be held.

The Hollywood stars' late-Wednesday visit to Rome City Hall caused a flurry of speculation that they were getting a marriage license, but the city hall said Thursday it was only a courtesy visit to the mayor, a big movie buff.

As of midday Thursday, the Bracciano Town Hall was insisting it had not received any request to celebrate the wedding, but preparations for a party appeared to be under way at the castle.

The Bracciano Town Hall said, however, that the mayor would not need much time to prepare for a civil ceremony if the necessary papers were presented before Saturday.

To obtain a marriage license, U.S. citizens planning to marry in Italy must present specific documents — including their passports, birth certificates and an affidavit that there is no impediment to their marriage. Because the documents need to be translated into Italian and certified, the process is generally time consuming.

A spokesman for the Church of Scientology for Rome said they had not been contacted about the Cruise-Holmes wedding. Cruise belongs to the Church of Scientology.

"If they're getting married with these rites, it won't be with a minister from the Rome church, so I would imagine that they would bring their own," spokesman Fabrizio D'Agostino said.

D'Agostino said an exchange of vows with a Scientology rite was not legally recognized in Italy, and would have to be preceded or followed by a civil union.

Meanwhile, Katie Holmes' parents arrived in the Italian capital on Thursday. They had been traveling with about a half dozen people, and were whisked away in a van that had been waiting outside Rome's small Ciampino airport.

Cruise and Holmes, who have been staying at the Hassler hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps, met Holmes' parents at the nearby St. Regis Grand Hotel, where they stayed for about an hour before returning to the Hassler.

Jim Carrey, Lopez and Anthony and Brooke Shields also arrived Thursday.

Shields and Cruise had a public argument last year after the "Mission: Impossible III" star, echoing the position of the Scientology church, publicly criticized Shields' use of antidepressants after the birth of her first daughter. He said during a U.S. television appearance that depression could be treated with exercise and vitamins rather than drugs.

But the two appeared to have made up, and Shields said in September that Cruise had apologized to her in person.

Cruise and Holmes were first photographed together in Rome in April 2005. They became engaged in June 2005 and are the parents of a daughter, Suri, who was born April 18.

Cruise flew into Rome on Monday with an entourage of 10.