Italy

The historic framework descends from the 1912 citizenship law: citizenship passed from parent to child indefinitely, provided the emigrant ancestor had not naturalized elsewhere before the next generation’s birth. Decree-Law 36 of 2025, converted by Parliament with amendments later that year, narrowed recognition for applications made after 27 March 2025. The operative test is not birthplace: in broad terms, a new applicant must show a parent or grandparent who was exclusively an Italian citizen — holding no other nationality — or a parent who had resided in Italy for at least two continuous years before the applicant’s birth. An ancestor merely born in Italy who also held another citizenship does not, on the statutory text, satisfy the test.

The reform has since been tested. In a judgment filed in April 2026, the Constitutional Court upheld it against the first wave of challenges, treating recognition as taking effect when granted rather than at birth, and leaving defined questions open. In July 2026, in separate proceedings, the same Court referred to the EU Court of Justice whether the reform’s retroactive reach is compatible with European citizenship; cases turning on that question are suspended until Luxembourg answers. The honest position, which we give families plainly, is that any Italian assessment must be dated, and revisited if filing is delayed.

Until 1948, Italian law did not allow women to pass citizenship to children in most circumstances. Since a landmark court decision in 2009, descendants through a maternal line broken before 1948 have pursued recognition through the Italian courts rather than the consulates, and tens of thousands have done so. These judicial cases have their own rhythm — pleadings, hearings, certified files translated for the court. Those filed by the March 2025 cut-off continue under transitional arrangements; maternal-line claims begun after it face the reform’s ancestor test like any other new application.

Italy asks for the complete chain: the ancestor’s Italian birth (or baptismal extract for the oldest records, from the comune or parish), every intervening birth and marriage, relevant deaths, and evidence bearing on the ancestor’s naturalization elsewhere — including certificates of non-existence of naturalization where the archives support them. Everything foreign is apostilled and translated by sworn standards.

Italian officials read documents closely. A single discrepant name — Giuseppe become Joseph become José — must usually be reconciled through rectification or supporting evidence before a file will move. This exactness is demanding, and it is also why an Italian recognition, once granted, stands so solidly.