Introduction:
The case concerned several U.S. descendants seeking recognition of Italian citizenship through an Italian-born ancestor who later emigrated to the United States. The applicants produced civil-status documentation establishing the genealogical relationship between the original Italian citizen and the successive generations. The petition was filed on 25 March 2025. The Ministry of the Interior did not appear in the proceedings, while the Public Prosecutor issued an opinion in favor of granting the application.
Outcome:
The Court granted the petition and declared the applicants Italian citizens. It ordered the Ministry of the Interior, through the competent Civil Status Registrar, to carry out the registrations, transcriptions and annotations required by law and to transmit the necessary communications to the competent Italian consular authorities. No order as to costs was made.
Challenge:
A central issue concerned the continuity of citizenship through generations born in the United States. The Court recalled Article 7 of Law No. 555/1912, under which the child of an Italian citizen born in a country granting citizenship jus soli could retain the Italian citizenship acquired at birth. Accordingly, the automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship because of birth in the United States did not, in itself, eliminate the Italian citizenship transmitted jure sanguinis. The judgment also addressed transmission through the maternal line. Referring to Constitutional Court Judgment No. 30/1983 and the Supreme Court's Joint Sections Judgment No. 4466/2009, the Court recalled that the former discriminatory limitations preventing Italian women from transmitting citizenship cannot continue to prevent recognition of citizenship through female ancestors. The Court further examined the rules concerning the effect of a parent's naturalization on minor children, emphasizing that the loss of citizenship by a parent did not automatically cause the minor child to lose Italian citizenship merely because the parent had naturalized.
Action:
After examining the documentation, the Court concluded that the Italian ancestor had transmitted citizenship to the next generation, who acquired U.S. citizenship at birth by jus soli while simultaneously acquiring Italian citizenship jure sanguinis. The Court found no evidence that the relevant descendants subsequently renounced Italian citizenship, and therefore considered the transmission chain uninterrupted. Particularly importantly, the Court reaffirmed that Italian citizenship acquired jure sanguinis at birth is presumed to have been maintained without interruption. Loss of citizenship constitutes an exceptional, free and voluntary event and, relying on Supreme Court Judgment No. 14194/2024, the Court held that such an event must be proven by the party contesting citizenship. In the absence of such proof, the applicants’ citizenship status remained intact.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.