citizenship acquired for having Italian parents/ancestors (“ius sanguinis”);
citizenship acquired for being born on Italian soil (“ius soli”) in some cases;
the possibility of dual citizenship;
the declaration of willingness to acquire or renounce citizenship.
Italian citizenship has no restrictions on the number of generations that can inherit it, regardless of the gap between the Italian-born ancestor and the descendant. However, the only requirement is that the Italian-born ancestor was either born on or after March 17, 1861, the day that marks the establishment of the modern Italian nation as we know it today, with the exception of a few pre-unitary states that joined the Italian nation at a later date.
To be eligible for Italian citizenship by descent through Jus Sanguinis, it is crucial that your Italian-born ancestor did not renounce their citizenship or become naturalized as a citizen of another country (intentionally) before the birth of the next generation. In other words, your eligibility for Italian citizenship will depend on whether your ancestor would have still been recognized as an Italian citizen at the time of their child's birth in a foreign country. If your Italian-born ancestor was naturalized before the birth of the next person in your family line, you would not be able to claim Italian citizenship through that ancestor.
Additionally, a critical date to consider is July 1, 1912, when Law 555/1912 regarding citizenship came into effect, which still has provisions in force today. Any ancestor who was naturalized before July 1, 1912, would not be able to transmit citizenship to the next generation, even to children born before the ancestor's naturalization, as it would have resulted in a break in the lineage of citizenship.
It is also important to take note of December 31, 1947, and January 1, 1948. January 1, 1948, marks the effective date of the Italian constitution and the day when women were granted the same rights as men regarding citizenship transmission and civil rights, including voting. For individuals whose ancestor is a female who gave birth to the next person in the family line on or before December 31, 1947, these dates are significant. If your ancestor was born to a female Italian citizen on or before December 31, 1947, you may need to undergo a judicial process to obtain citizenship.
Italian Citizenship by Descent Legislation As stated in the Italian Nationality Law: ACQUISITION OF ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP Italian citizenship can be acquired in one of the following ways:
1. CITIZENSHIP AS A RESULT OF ITALIAN PARENTS/ANCESTORS (“ius sanguinis”)
Article 1 of Law No. 91/92 lays down that a person acquires Italian citizenship when born of a father or a mother who are Italian citizens. Hence the principle of ius sanguinis - already enshrined in the previous legislation - is reaffirmed as a key principle for the acquisition of citizenship, while the ius soli remains an exceptional and residual case.
While explicitly stating that also the mother can transmit citizenship, the Article fully acknowledges the principle of equality between men and women as regards the transmission of the status civitatis.
Recognition of the possession of citizenship to foreigners descending from Italian ancestors who emigrated to countries where the ius soli is in force.
While Article 1 of the Law of 1912 reaffirmed the principle of recognition of Italian citizenship through paternal lineage to the citizens' children regardless of their place of birth, as already provided for in the Civil Code of 1865, Article 7 was meant to ensure that the children of Italian emigrants could maintain the link with their ascendants’ country of origin, thus introducing an important exception to the principle of single citizenship.
In fact, Article 7 of Law No. 555/1912 enabled the children of Italian citizens, born in a foreign State which had granted them citizenship according to the principle of ius soli, to retain the Italian citizenship acquired at birth, even if the parents lost it when minors, thus recognizing to the persons concerned the significant right to renounce it when becoming of legal age, if living abroad.
This special rule derogated not only to the principle of single citizenship, but also to the principle whereby the fate of the children’ s citizenship depends on the father, as provided for by Article 12 of Law No. 555\1912.
Hence the conditions required for such recognition are based, on the one hand, on the demonstration of descent from the subject originally having the status of citizen (the ancestor who emigrated) and, on the other, on the proof that there were no interruption in the transmission of citizenship (failed foreign naturalization of the ancestor before the birth of the children; absence of declarations of renunciation of Italian citizenship by further descendants before the birth of the next generation, thus proving that the transmission of citizenship did not stop).
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