- The principle of ius sanguinis
The principle of ius sanguinis (right of blood) is the historical and legal foundation of the Italian citizenship system. Since the era of the Kingdom of Italy, citizenship has been transmitted by direct descent from an Italian citizen, regardless of the child’s place of birth. Law No. 555 of 13 June 1912 established this criterion but introduced a significant gender disparity: children followed the father’s citizenship, while the mother could transmit citizenship to children (born before 1 January 1948) only in exceptional cases, for example if the father was unknown, stateless, or if the children did not acquire the father’s citizenship. This legislative framework reflected the legal and social concept of the time, which saw the wife’s legal subordination to her husband and the children’s dependence on paternal authority.
A paradigm shift occurred with the birth of the Italian Republic and the 1948 Constitution. Articles 3 and 29 of the Constitution enshrine the principles of equality without distinction of sex and of the moral and legal equality of spouses. However, in the post-war period, citizenship law was not immediately adapted: it was only in 1983 that the Constitutional Court declared the gender discrimination contained in the 1912 law unconstitutional, paving the way for the recognition of women’s right to transmit citizenship to their children. Full equality was subsequently established by Law No. 91 of 5 February 1992, which is still in force today. Article 1, paragraph 1, explicitly provides that “a child of an Italian father or mother is an Italian citizen by birth”. By doing so, the legislator acknowledged gender equality in the transmission of the status civitatis, definitively eliminating the previous patrilineal limitation.
It must, however, be underlined that this equality applies only to children born on or after 1 January 1948, the date on which the Constitution entered into force. Those born before that date to an Italian mother and a foreign father cannot obtain citizenship through an administrative procedure (since at that time the mother could not transmit citizenship). Their right may only be asserted through judicial proceedings by filing an application before an Italian court. This practice – known as the “1948 cases” – is based on well-established case law: Italian courts have recognised the unconstitutionality of the previous gender-based discrimination and have allowed Italian citizenship iure sanguinis to be declared for descendants through the maternal line born before 1948, even in the absence of a retroactive statutory provision. Diplomatic and consular authorities, as well as municipalities, continue to reject such claims through administrative channels, adhering strictly to the formal provisions of the laws in force at the time.
By virtue of the ius sanguinis principle, Italian citizenship can, in principle, be transmitted indefinitely from generation to generation, provided that the line of descent is continuous and that no direct ascendant has lost or renounced Italian citizenship before the birth of the next descendant. Law No. 91/1992, which reaffirmed the criteria already established by the 1912 statute, imposed no generational limits on transmission by descent. This legislative openness allowed, until 2025, the recognition of citizenship for a very large number of descendants of Italian emigrants — sometimes five, six, or more generations removed — provided that an uninterrupted genealogical line could be proven through documentary evidence. To give an indication of scale, in 2023 alone it was estimated that at least 190,000 citizenship recognitions were granted by descent, a figure nearly twenty times higher than citizenships granted by residence in the same year. This “unlimited right”, exercisable on demand, ended up extending to increasingly large groups of individuals whose actual connection with Italy was remote or purely ancestral.
- The procedure for recognition by descent
The recognition of citizenship by descent is not automatic but must be obtained through an administrative procedure aimed at verifying possession of Italian nationality. The process was formally regulated by Ministry of the Interior Circular No. K.28.1 of 8 April 1991, which remains in force today. This circular identifies the competent authority and the list of documents required to process an application.
The competent authority depends on the applicant’s place of residence:
- if the applicant resides abroad, the competent authority is the Italian Consular Office (Embassy or Consulate) with territorial jurisdiction;
- if the applicant resides in Italy, the application must be submitted to the Municipality of residence (Ufficio di Stato Civile).
Once the application has been filed, the competent authority examines a series of conditions and requires specific documentation proving the applicant’s entitlement to Italian citizenship. In essence, the applicant must provide evidence of the following elements:
- Identification of the Italian ancestor (“avo dante causa”) and reconstruction of the direct line of descent.
Until the entry into force of Decree-Law No. 36 of 28 March 2025, later converted into Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025, applicants seeking recognition of Italian citizenship by descent (iure sanguinis) were required to document the entire direct line of descent from the Italian-born ancestor down to themselves. This involved producing the full birth certificate of the Italian ancestor, issued by the municipality of birth in Italy, together with full-form birth, marriage, and death certificates for each generation in the direct line — parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on — up to the applicant. Since many emigrant families had lived abroad for several generations, the documentation could extend across five or six generations. Each foreign document had to be officially translated into Italian and legalised (either by Apostille or through the Italian Consular Authority of the issuing country), unless exempted by an international convention.
Under the new regime introduced by Law No. 74/2025, however, this extensive documentary requirement has been significantly reduced. Applications for recognition of citizenship by descent are now limited to two generations at most — typically, the applicant’s Italian parent or grandparent. Only documents proving the applicant’s descent from these relatives are now admissible for recognition purposes. Requests to establish citizenship through more distant ancestors (such as great-grandparents or earlier generations) are no longer processed administratively, as the iure sanguinis principle beyond the second generation has been curtailed by Article 3-bis of Law No. 91/1992, as amended.
- Continuity of citizenship in the line of ascent
Until the 2025 reform, applicants were required to prove that each ancestor in the direct line had maintained Italian citizenship continuously, without interruption, from the Italian-born forebear down to the applicant. This meant demonstrating, through official certificates, that no ancestor had acquired a foreign nationality before the birth of the next generation. To this end, applicants had to provide a certificate of non-naturalisation (or an equivalent document specifying the date of any naturalisation) issued by the competent authorities of the country of emigration. For instance, if an Italian great-grandfather had become a naturalised U.S. citizen before the birth of his son, the transmission of citizenship iure sanguinis would have been considered interrupted, disqualifying later descendants.
Under the new provisions introduced by Article 3-bis of Law No. 91/1992 (as amended by Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025), the requirement of proving uninterrupted citizenship continuity now applies only within the second generation. Applicants must demonstrate that their Italian parent or grandparent did not lose or renounce Italian citizenship prior to the applicant’s birth. Beyond this generational limit, administrative verification no longer applies, as citizenship transmission iure sanguinis has been expressly restricted to direct descendants within two degrees of kinship.
- Absence of formal renunciation of Italian citizenship
Before the 2025 reform, applicants were required to demonstrate that neither they nor any of their direct ancestors had ever formally renounced Italian citizenship, as such an act would have interrupted the transmission of nationality. To this end, a certificate issued by the competent Italian Consular Authority was required, confirming that none of the ancestors (nor the applicant) had ever executed a declaration of renunciation of Italian citizenship before an Italian authority.
It is important to recall that, since 16 August 1992 (the date on which Law No. 91/1992 entered into force), the acquisition of a foreign nationality no longer results in the automatic loss of Italian citizenship, unless accompanied by an express declaration of renunciation. Previously, under the earlier 1912 law, voluntary naturalisation in another country led automatically to loss of citizenship — a principle reflecting Italy’s historic disapproval of dual nationality — although the right to reacquire citizenship was later introduced for specific cases.
Under the new Article 3-bis of Law No. 91/1992, as amended by Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025, the verification of renunciations now applies only within the second generation. This means that the applicant must prove that neither their Italian parent nor grandparent ever renounced Italian citizenship before the applicant’s birth. For recognition purposes, the administrative assessment of renunciations no longer extends beyond this degree of kinship, in line with the new generational limitation on the transmission of citizenship iure sanguinis.
- Transmission through the maternal line and limitation before 1948
Under Italian law, the transmission of citizenship through the maternal line is recognised only for children born on or after 1 January 1948, the date on which the Italian Constitution entered into force. This principle stems from the constitutional guarantee of gender equality, which abolished the former discriminatory rule allowing only fathers to transmit citizenship to their children.
If the family lineage includes an Italian mother whose child was born before 1948, the application for recognition of citizenship cannot be accepted through the administrative route, either by the Consulate or by the Municipality, as public authorities are bound to apply the law strictly. In such cases, the only available route is a judicial application before an Italian court, where the claimant can seek a declaration of citizenship iure sanguinis on the basis of the constitutional principle of equal treatment between men and women. Italian courts have consistently upheld these claims, affirming that the previous gender-based restriction was unconstitutional.
Under the new provisions introduced by Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025, which amended Law No. 91/1992 through the insertion of Article 3-bis, Italian citizenship iure sanguinis can now be transmitted only within two generations born abroad — typically from an Italian parent or, in limited cases, from an Italian grandparent. The automatic transmission of citizenship is therefore excluded for more distant descendants, such as great-grandchildren or later generations. To qualify under the current law, at least one of the following conditions must be met:
- The applicant’s parent or grandparent must have held exclusively Italian citizenship, without possessing any other nationality at the relevant time.
- The Italian parent (or adoptive parent) must have legally resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the applicant’s birth or adoption.
- The application for recognition must have been submitted or officially scheduled before 27 March 2025, in which case it is assessed under the previous unlimited system.
These criteria ensure that citizenship by descent now reflects a direct and substantial connection with Italy, replacing the former open-ended model based solely on remote ancestry.
Only once all of these conditions have been verified and the documentation found satisfactory will the competent authority (Consulate or Municipality) issue a formal decision recognising Italian citizenship iure sanguinis. This decision has declaratory effect, not constitutive effect — meaning that it merely confirms a pre-existing right to Italian citizenship held from birth by virtue of descent, rather than granting it anew. Simultaneously, the new citizen’s birth certificate is transcribed in the Italian civil register, enabling the individual to exercise all associated rights (such as applying for an Italian passport, registering with A.I.R.E., voting, etc.).
Important Note: Applications for recognition of Italian citizenship submitted to Italian Consular Offices abroad are subject to an administrative fee of €600, payable at the time of filing. This amount — previously €300 — was doubled by Article 6, paragraph 3 of Law No. 74 of 23 May 2025 (conversion of Decree-Law No. 36/2025) and applies to each adult applicant, even where several family members (for example, siblings) apply together. Applications lodged in Italy with Municipalities remain exempt from this payment. The purpose of the increased consular fee is to offset higher administrative costs and to discourage unfounded or speculative claims for citizenship iure sanguinis.
It is also worth noting that, following the 2025 reform, the burden of proof in support of iure sanguinis applications has been significantly reinforced. The applicant bears the full responsibility of demonstrating that no legal impediments exist to the acquisition or retention of Italian citizenship. In judicial proceedings, neither oath nor witness testimony may be admitted to compensate for incomplete or deficient documentary evidence.