Introduction:
In this case, the Court of Naples examined an application filed by a U.S. citizen seeking recognition of Italian citizenship by descent from her Italian-born grandfather. The applicant reconstructed the family line through official civil-status documentation, demonstrating that the Italian ancestor emigrated to the United States but never acquired U.S. citizenship through naturalization. The applicant and her mother had acquired U.S. citizenship automatically at birth under the principle of jus soli, while maintaining their claim to Italian citizenship through their paternal family line.
Outcome:
The Court granted the application and declared the petitioner an Italian citizen jure sanguinis. It ordered the Ministry of the Interior, through the competent Civil Status Registrar, to carry out all registrations, transcriptions and annotations required by law, including communications to the competent Italian consular authorities. Legal costs were fully offset between the parties.
Challenge:
The Court examined the case under Law No. 74/2025, which converted Decree-Law No. 36/2025 and introduced Article 3-bis into Law No. 91/1992, limiting citizenship recognition for persons born abroad unless one of the statutory exceptions applies. The key issue was whether the applicant satisfied the exception contained in Article 3-bis(1)(c), which allows recognition where a first- or second-degree ascendant possesses, or possessed at the time of death, exclusively Italian citizenship. The Court therefore assessed both the applicant's degree of descent and the citizenship status of the Italian ancestor.
Action:
After reviewing the documentary evidence, the Court found that the applicant qualified as a second-generation descendant, being the granddaughter of the Italian-born ancestor. It further established that the ancestor had never become a naturalized U.S. citizen, thereby retaining exclusively Italian citizenship throughout his lifetime. Having verified that the applicant fell squarely within the exception established by Article 3-bis(1)(c), the Court concluded that the requirements introduced by the 2025 reform had been fully satisfied. It therefore recognized the applicant as an Italian citizen jure sanguinis and ordered the competent authorities to complete the necessary civil-status registrations.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.