Italy’s centuries-old tradition of granting citizenship by descent—known as ius sanguinis—has come to a dramatic turning point. On March 14, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court announced it would uphold a controversial 2025 law, restricting citizenship recognition to those with a parent or grandparent born in Italy. The decision, which comes after months of legal wrangling and mounting political debate, signals the end of an era for millions of people worldwide who traced their Italian identity through distant ancestors.
The ruling, detailed in a court statement and echoed by multiple sources including CNN and IBTimes AU, finds the new restrictions constitutional. The law, introduced in March 2025 as an emergency decree and later converted to Law 74/2025, effectively blocks many descendants born abroad from claiming Italian citizenship. Unless a parent or grandparent was born in Italy—and held solely Italian citizenship at the time of the descendant’s birth or their own death—applications will be denied. This change also bans dual citizenship for large swathes of the Italian diaspora, particularly those whose families emigrated generations ago.
For more than 160 years, ius sanguinis was the bedrock of Italian citizenship. The 1865 Civil Code, followed by laws in 1912 and 1992, allowed Italians abroad to pass citizenship to their children, provided they hadn’t renounced it. This principle became a lifeline for millions of Italians who left their homeland during waves of emigration, especially between 1861 and 1918, when 16 million Italians sought better lives overseas. Many of their descendants, now living in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and the United States, have maintained strong cultural, emotional, and—until now—legal ties to Italy.
The process of acquiring citizenship by descent has always been arduous. Applicants must gather a daunting array of documents—birth, marriage, and death certificates from ancestral hometowns—and prove that no one in their lineage lost Italian citizenship. Costs can soar to hundreds of euros per document, and waiting lists at consulates can stretch up to a decade. According to CNN, Argentina’s Italian consulates processed 30,000 applications in 2024 alone, up by 10,000 from the previous year. The sheer volume has overwhelmed Italy’s regional courts and consulates, with thousands of cases clogging the system and some applicants forced to sue the government to expedite their claims—often at great expense.
The new law aims to address these administrative bottlenecks. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani defended the restrictions, saying they were “essential to restore order” and prevent abuse of the system, particularly concerns about passport commercialization. The court cited state interests in managing consular backlogs and preserving the integrity of Italian citizenship. Supporters argue that many distant descendants have only tenuous links to Italy, don’t participate in civil duties, and may seek citizenship primarily for the benefits of an EU passport.
But critics say the law severs vital cultural connections forged over generations. “This has cut loose a vast number of descendants who had requested recognition but hadn’t been given an appointment,” law professor Corrado Caruso told CNN. “There is now disparity within nuclear families. One sibling might have citizenship, but another couldn’t get the same treatment.”
The impact is not just personal—it’s demographic. Italy is grappling with a shrinking and aging population. Between 2020 and 2024, more than half a million residents left the country, and 2024 alone saw a record 155,732 Italians emigrate. Regional authorities, especially in Sicily, have tried to counteract depopulation by attracting descendants back. Mussomeli, for instance, became famous for its one-euro homes project and even recruited Argentinian doctors to staff local hospitals. Such initiatives will now be sharply limited under the new law.
The law is also retroactive from March 27, 2025. Claims through great-grandparents or earlier generations are excluded unless specific residency conditions are met. Only applications filed before the cutoff—about 60,000 cases—will be processed under the old rules. The court’s March 2026 decision follows a July 2025 ruling that had affirmed citizenship from birth, briefly raising hopes for a reversal of the retroactive restrictions. Instead, the new verdict solidifies a narrower approach.
Gender discrimination has been another flashpoint. Women who gave birth before 1948 could not transmit citizenship to their children—a rule that has been challenged since 2009, with some descendants winning lawsuits. The new law, however, closes off this avenue, leaving many families divided by arbitrary legal lines.
The debate has been fierce and deeply emotional. Diaspora groups around the world have expressed disappointment and frustration, with some planning further appeals. “It was an extremely clear, harsh intervention, so I had a hope that it would be judged in breach of some constitutional points, but that wasn’t recognized by the court,” Caruso said. He added, “Maybe it’s not the end of the war but it will be a difficult war.”
Not all legal experts are ready to concede defeat. Citizenship lawyer Marco Mellone remains cautiously optimistic. “This doesn’t mean the new law is 100% valid and forever,” he told CNN. Mellone plans to challenge the law in Italy’s Supreme Court and potentially at the European Union level, arguing that citizenship rights at birth cannot be retroactively revoked. “If you are a citizen at birth, you have a right that nobody can touch. You can’t say, what I said when you were born was not true, you’re not an Italian citizen anymore. You can’t say, I was joking. This is the first step in a long battle.”
Lawyers now advise descendants with ongoing cases to request postponements and those who have not yet applied to wait for further legal developments. Immigration attorneys recommend checking family records for qualifying links or verifying if pre-cutoff filings are still eligible. Alternatives for those now excluded include ten-year residency naturalization or citizenship by marriage, while reacquisition remains open for some until December 31, 2027.
Parliament has also passed Bill 1683, shifting adult jure sanguinis processing to a centralized Rome office from 2029, with annual quotas, while consulates will handle cases through 2028. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on retroactivity for pre-2025 births in April, and other legal questions—such as the so-called "minor issue" regarding naturalization breaking transmission—may see resolution later this year.
For now, the door to Italian citizenship by distant descent is closing. The ruling marks a profound shift, redefining not just who is Italian on paper, but what it means to belong to a nation shaped by migration and memory. The fight for recognition may not be over, but the path forward is steeper than ever.