Introduction:
The petitioners, all U.S. citizens, filed for judicial recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis based on descent from an Italian-born woman who had emigrated to the United States. The line of descent included several generational passages, all supported by civil status certificates.
Outcome:
On July 3, 2025, the Court ruled in favor of the petitioners, officially recognizing them as Italian citizens and ordering the Ministry of the Interior to update all civil records. The court also declared that legal costs were to be fully offset, considering the ruling's basis in well-established case law.
Challenge:
The main legal issue arose from historical legal provisions that denied women the ability to transmit citizenship prior to 1948 and stripped them of citizenship upon marriage to foreigners. These rules created generational barriers to the recognition of citizenship through maternal lineage.
Action:
The Court cited key Constitutional Court rulings (no. 87/1975, 30/1983) and Supreme Court decisions (no. 4466/2009, 4467/2009), which abolished gender-based limitations. These precedents established that citizenship is permanent, imprescriptible, and judicially assertable at any time. The petitioners’ comprehensive documentation led to full recognition of their status as Italian citizens.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.