Italy ruling tells millions with Italian roots they have lost the right to citizenship The Italian Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of a controversial 2025 law that restricts citizenship rights for descendants of Italians born abroad, marking a significant shift in the country’s long-standing tradition of citizenship by descent. The decision, announced on March 14, 2026, means that individuals with Italian ancestry who were born outside Italy will no longer automatically qualify for citizenship, potentially severing ties between millions of diaspora descendants and their ancestral homeland. Since Italy’s unification in 1861, citizenship has been determined by parental lineage, a principle known as ius sanguinis. The country’s civil code, published in 1865, established that a child born to an Italian citizen would inherit citizenship, a rule that has governed the nation’s identity for over a century. However, the new law, introduced via emergency decree in March 2025, now requires individuals to prove direct descent from an Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy. It also eliminates dual citizenship for diaspora descendants, as the parent or grandparent must have held sole Italian citizenship at the time of the descendant’s birth or death. The ruling has sparked widespread concern among Italian expatriates, many of whom have lived abroad for generations while maintaining their cultural and legal ties to Italy. Under the previous system, Italians who moved abroad could pass citizenship to their children as long as they did not renounce it, often by acquiring another nationality. This practice allowed millions of Italians to retain their citizenship despite living and working overseas, preserving both their heritage and their connection to the homeland.#italy #italian_constitutional_court #italian_citizenship_reform #bologna_university #marco_mellone
