Introduction:
In this case, the Court of Naples examined a petition filed by U.S. applicants seeking recognition of Italian citizenship by descent from an Italian ancestor born in Southern Italy who emigrated to the United States. The applicants reconstructed their genealogical line across multiple generations, including minor descendants, through civil registry documentation demonstrating continuity of lineage. The application was brought before the Court due to the impossibility of obtaining recognition through administrative channels, as the case involved transmission through the maternal line in a pre-1948 context.
Outcome:
The Court upheld the application and declared that all applicants are Italian citizens jure sanguinis. It ordered the Ministry of the Interior, through the competent Civil Status Registrar, to carry out the required registrations, transcriptions, and annotations in the civil status registers and to notify the relevant consular authorities. Legal costs were fully offset between the parties.
Challenge:
The central issue concerned the transmission of citizenship through the maternal line under the framework of Law No. 555 of 1912, which originally prevented Italian women from transmitting citizenship to their children. The Court addressed this issue in light of Constitutional Court and Supreme Court jurisprudence, which have removed such discriminatory limitations and recognized the right of descendants to claim citizenship even where the line passes through a female ancestor prior to 1948. The Court also clarified the criteria for jurisdiction, confirming that, for applicants residing abroad, competence lies with the court of the place of birth of the Italian ancestor under the post-2022 legislative framework.
Action:
The applicants demonstrated uninterrupted descent from the Italian ancestor, who never naturalized as a foreign citizen and never renounced Italian citizenship. On this basis, the Court confirmed that citizenship had been validly transmitted through the maternal line to all descendants. It further reaffirmed that Italian citizenship is a fundamental, permanent and imprescriptible right, which may be lost only through voluntary and explicit renunciation, and therefore granted recognition of citizenship jure sanguinis from birth.
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