Introduction:
The applicants sought judicial recognition of Italian citizenship as direct descendants of an Italian woman born in Naples who emigrated to the United States. Because the lineage involved maternal transmission prior to 1948, administrative recognition was unavailable, making recourse to the courts necessary. The Ministry of the Interior did not enter an appearance.
Outcome:
The Court upheld the claim and declared the applicants Italian citizens, ordering the Ministry of the Interior and the competent Civil Status Officer to complete all registrations, transcriptions, and annotations in the civil status registers, as well as the required communications to consular authorities. Legal costs were fully offset between the parties.
Challenge:
The case centered on the historical exclusion of maternal transmission under pre-1948 legislation, which automatically deprived Italian women of citizenship upon marriage to a foreign national. The Court reaffirmed that the unconstitutional effects of those rules persisted beyond the entry into force of the Constitution and continue to justify judicial recognition for descendants, regardless of the passage of time.
Action:
The legal team reconstructed the entire maternal line through certified, translated, and apostilled civil status records, demonstrating that the Italian ancestor never voluntarily renounced citizenship. Relying on Constitutional Court rulings and the Supreme Court Joint Sections’ landmark 2009 decision, counsel established that citizenship by descent is an essential personal status absolute, original, and imprescriptible capable of judicial recognition at any time. The Court accepted the evidence and ordered full implementation by the authorities.
For the privacy of our clients, all names are fictional, and any identifying details in the judgements have been obscured.