Italian citizenship is transmitted by filiation (jure sanguinis) currently under Law No 91/1992 and previously under Law No. 555/1912 and the Civil Code of 1865.
The Constitutional Court, in judgment no. 30/1983, declared that Article 1(1) and (2) of Law no. 555/1912 was unconstitutional in so far as it did not provide for the acquisition of Italian nationality for children of a mother who was a citizen, and Article 2(2) of the same law in so far as it provided for the prevalence of the father's nationality in the transmission of the status of citizen to his children.
The Court of Cassation in Joint Sections, with sentence no. 4466/2009 resolved a long-standing jurisprudential contrast regarding the retroactive effects in time of the above mentioned sentence of the Constitutional Court, established the following important principles:
- Italian citizenship jure sanguinisIt constitutes an essential right of the person with characteristics of absoluteness, originality, unavailability and imprescriptibility that make it justiciable at all times;
- the cessation of the effects of the provisions of law no. 555/1912 declared unconstitutional automatically affects the right to Italian citizenship, since it is possible at any time, from the date on which the law became inapplicable (1st January 1948, the date on which the Constitution came into force), to recognise the imprescriptible right to the loss or acquisition of the status of Italian citizen, even in the case of the death of ascendants.
Following that judgment of the Court of Cassation, Italian citizenship jure sanguinis is granted to descendants of Italian women born after January 1, 1948 in an administrative way by the Municipalities and Italian Consulates.
Descendants of Italian women born before 1 January 1948, on the other hand, cannot apply for recognition of their Italian citizenship through administrative channels, but must apply for recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis judicially to the Court with the aid of a lawyer.
Our services
The Law Firm of Attorney Marco Mantovani has helped many people and families to obtain the recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis through maternal line.
In particular, we offer a complete and personalized legal assistance service during the whole procedure, from the study of the case, to the examination of the documents, up to the obtaining of the Italian citizenship.
If you also want to obtain the recognition of Italian citizenship through the maternal route, contact Attorney Marco Mantovani!
