Introduction:
The case concerned a U.S.-born applicant seeking recognition of Italian citizenship through an Italian-born ancestor who emigrated to the United States. The applicant produced civil-status documentation establishing direct descent and a negative naturalization certificate supporting the continuity of Italian citizenship through the relevant generations. The Ministry of the Interior did not appear in the proceedings and was declared in default. The Court also expressly noted that the petition had been filed before 27 March 2025, meaning that the claim had to be assessed under the legal framework preceding the amendments introduced by Decree-Law No. 36/2025.
Outcome:
The Court granted the petition and declared the applicant entitled to recognition of Italian citizenship. It ordered the Ministry of the Interior and the competent Civil Status Registrar to carry out all registrations, transcriptions and annotations required by law, together with the necessary communications to the competent consular authorities. The Court also ordered the Registry to transmit the judgment without delay to the competent Civil Status Registrar and declared the costs of the proceedings non-recoverable.
Challenge:
A particularly significant aspect of the judgment concerns the admissibility of direct judicial proceedings. The Court observed that recognition of citizenship ordinarily falls within the competence of the administrative authorities. However, where the Administration remains inactive for an unreasonable period after being requested to act, the applicant acquires a concrete interest in seeking judicial protection. In this case, the applicant had provided evidence of having previously submitted applications to the competent administrative authorities. The Court therefore considered the judicial petition admissible. In reaching this conclusion, it expressly referred to case law concerning the exceptionally long waiting lists at Italian consulates abroad, which may reach 10 to 12 years, making judicial proceedings the only effective means of protecting the applicant’s substantive citizenship right.
Action:
Turning to the merits, the Court found that the applicant had established direct descent from the Italian ancestor through the required civil-status documentation. It also found that the continuity of citizenship transmission had been proven. In particular, a negative naturalization certificate demonstrated the absence of voluntary loss of Italian citizenship by the ancestor. The first descendant born abroad had acquired foreign citizenship automatically because of birth in the foreign country under the principle of jus soli, rather than through a voluntary act capable of interrupting the Italian citizenship line. No subsequent renunciation by the applicant’s ascendants emerged from the evidence. The Court further reiterated the evidentiary principle established by the Italian Supreme Court: an applicant seeking recognition must prove the original acquisition of citizenship and the genealogical chain, while the burden of proving any event capable of interrupting citizenship transmission rests on the opposing party. Since the documentary evidence established the line of descent and no interrupting event was proven, the Court recognized the applicant’s right to Italian citizenship.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.