What Italy's 2025 citizenship law changed
Italy's Law 74/2025 ended automatic citizenship by descent for people born abroad who hold another citizenship, unless a parent or grandparent held only Italian citizenship, or an Italian parent lived in Italy for two consecutive years after becoming Italian and before the child's birth.
The law converted Decree-Law 36/2025, and those are the listed cases in which people born abroad are still recognised. Recognition obtained by 11:59 pm (Rome time) on 27 March 2025, and applications made after an appointment communicated by then, follow the earlier rules. Great-grandparent claims through ancestors who also held another citizenship no longer qualify. The limit is not settled: on 23 July 2026 the Italian Constitutional Court deposited order 147/2026, referring it to the EU Court of Justice. That referral is pending, and the limit applies until it is decided. Check your line against the routes in your cases.
Before and after
Before the change, a person could be recognised through an Italian ancestor several generations back, provided the line was unbroken and the ancestor had not naturalised elsewhere before the next child's birth. The new text lists who is recognised instead. Among the cases the consular page we read lists are people born in Italy to an Italian parent, people who hold Italian citizenship only, people already recognised by 27 March 2025, a parent or grandparent who held only Italian citizenship, and a parent who lived in Italy two consecutive years before the birth.
| Route | Status | Reaches |
|---|---|---|
| Only-Italian parent or grandparent | Narrowed | Up to a grandparent |
| Parent resident in Italy two years | Narrowed | A parent |
| Legacy (pending or court case) | Legacy | Up to a great-grandparent |
The pending referral to the EU Court of Justice
Courts in Mantua and Campobasso challenged the new limit, article 3-bis of Law 91/1992. On 23 July 2026 the Italian Constitutional Court deposited order 147/2026, asking the EU Court of Justice whether articles 9 TEU and 20 TFEU, which make every citizen of a member state an EU citizen, preclude a rule that treats people born abroad with another citizenship as never having acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of the listed cases applies. The court restated its own earlier view (judgment 63/2026) that the limit does not breach those articles, but left the final reading of EU law to the Luxembourg court.
Status: pending. Nothing changes until the EU court rules and the Italian court decides the cases in front of it, so the limit applies to new files today. Rootdossier shows the referral as a pending rule on the Italy page and in each Italian case's date log, with its date; the routes stay as they are until a decision is published.
Files started before 27 March 2025, and court cases
Applications made after an appointment communicated by 11:59 pm (Rome time) on 27 March 2025 are handled under the old rules, and recognition already obtained by then stands. Rootdossier keeps these, and maternal-line court cases for children born before 1948, in a legacy module. How the new law treats court cases filed after the cut-off is contested, and we have not verified it at a primary source, so the legacy module is a setting with a source note: take the current position from an Italian lawyer.
Filing practice also moved. At least one consular office now books an appointment online and then takes the application by mail, with the appointment date counting as the filing date; offices set their own procedures.
Worked example: an only-Italian grandfather
In the invented Italian sample, Luke claims through his grandfather Giuseppe, born in 1934, who lived in Australia but never took another citizenship. The route asks for 6 documents, three of them for Giuseppe, including a record showing he never naturalised. The check flags his name as "Giuseppe Russo" on one record and "Joseph Russo" on another, and his birth place under its Italian and Croatian names.
Add a great-grandparent to the same chain and the chain view warns: "This route looks for the Italian parent or grandparent 1 to 2 generations above you; the chain has 3."
Common mistakes
- Assuming an old great-grandparent claim still works. On the main route the line now stops at a grandparent who held only Italian citizenship.
- Forgetting the ancestor's other citizenship. A grandparent who naturalised elsewhere does not open the only-Italian route.
- Treating a pending file as new. If your appointment was communicated by 11:59 pm (Rome time) on 27 March 2025, keep proof of it.
- Treating the 2025 limit as final. It is before the EU Court of Justice on a referral deposited on 23 July 2026; watch for the ruling.
- Relying on blog summaries of court cases. The legal position after the law is contested; ask an Italian lawyer.
Start your dossier
Pick your country and route, add the people in your line, and the register lists every document the route asks for, with the rule behind each one. Free for one case. Your family's records stay in this browser.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still get Italian citizenship through my great-grandfather?
Not on the routes the 2025 law leaves open for people who hold another citizenship, unless you were recognised, or had an appointment communicated, by 27 March 2025. The limit is before the EU Court of Justice on a referral that is still pending. Take unusual cases to an Italian lawyer.
What does held only Italian citizenship mean?
The parent or grandparent had no other citizenship, at the date of death if they have died. A naturalisation abroad rules that ancestor out on this route.
Does Rootdossier support Italian cases at all?
Yes: the two routes still open, marked as narrowed, and a legacy module for files from before the 27 March 2025 cut-off and for court cases.
Sources
Last reviewed 28 September 2026 against:
- Citizenship by descent, Italian consular network, Los Angeles office pages, page with checklists dated 29 May 2026, read 28 September 2026. Used for: The listed cases under Law 74/2025, the 27 March 2025 cut-off (11:59 pm Rome time), the documents and the mail filing practice.
- Press release on order 147 of 2026: referral on the 2025 limit to the EU Court of Justice, Italian Constitutional Court, press office, press release of 23 July 2026, the day order 147/2026 was deposited, read 28 September 2026. Used for: The referral of the 2025 limit to the EU Court of Justice, deposited 23 July 2026 and pending.
- Court route for maternal line cases (children born before 1 January 1948), Italian courts, case law, not opened; not opened in the last review, treated as a setting. Used for: The court route for maternal-line cases, kept as a legacy setting.
This guide is our own summary of the sources, not legal advice. Rules change: if it disagrees with the current official page, the official page wins, and the consulate or a lawyer should confirm your case. Rootdossier is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any government, consulate, embassy, ministry, court or law firm, including the German, Irish, Polish, Canadian and Italian authorities that decide citizenship cases.