Italian Sen. Francesca La Marca, of the Democratic Party (PD), introduced a resolution in the Senate on Tuesday (10) calling on Giorgia Meloni’s government to review the restrictions on the transmission of Italian citizenship introduced by the 2025 reform.
One of the main goals is to expand the possibility of transmitting nationality through the second generation for people who acquired Italian citizenship through naturalization, marriage, by operation of law, or who recovered their status as Italian citizens.
The proposal seeks to establish more uniform treatment between these citizens and those who hold Italian citizenship by birth.
According to La Marca, the resolution gathered signatures from the equivalent of one-third of the members of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
What the proposal actually seeks to change
The initiative does not mean the automatic restoration of recognition of Italian citizenship by ius sanguinis for descendants across unlimited generations.
The text introduced by La Marca addresses, among other issues, the situation of people who became Italian through mechanisms other than citizenship by birth.
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This includes, for example, a Brazilian who acquired Italian citizenship after meeting the residency requirements in Italy, a person who obtained nationality through marriage, or a former Italian citizen who recovered their citizenship.
The senator wants these people to also be able to transmit citizenship to their children and grandchildren, subject to the two-generation limit mentioned in the resolution.
Current legislation already allows transmission in certain circumstances, but sets requirements that vary according to the situation of the citizen and their descendants.
The proposal seeks to expand these possibilities and reduce differences in treatment compared with Italians by birth.
How would this work in practice?
An example helps explain the difference.
Imagine a Brazilian who moved to Italy, lived legally in the country and, after meeting the required conditions, obtained Italian citizenship through naturalization.
This citizen did not acquire nationality through recognition of an Italian line of descent. He became Italian through a naturalization procedure.
Under current legislation, the possibility of transmitting citizenship to children born abroad who also hold another nationality depends on meeting specific conditions. One of them takes into account the father’s or mother’s legal residence in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring citizenship and before the child’s birth or adoption.
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La Marca’s resolution seeks to expand the possibilities for transmission in these cases, extending to the second generation, according to criteria that would still need to be established by law.
The same goal applies to people who acquired citizenship through marriage or recovered Italian nationality.
This does not mean, however, that the children and grandchildren of all naturalized citizens would automatically be recognized as Italian.
Dual citizenship is also included in the proposal
The resolution also addresses the situation of citizens who simultaneously hold Italian nationality and that of another country.
According to La Marca, the initiative seeks to allow the transmission of citizenship through two generations in these cases as well.
The senator specifically mentioned people who recovered Italian citizenship during the recovery window opened in the 1990s.
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The document also calls for any changes to the transmission rules to be accompanied by clear, uniform and nonretroactive criteria, in order to provide greater legal certainty to descendants of Italians abroad.
The 2025 reform established new restrictions
Decree-Law 36 of March 28, 2025, converted, with amendments, into Law 74 of May 23 of that year, changed legislation on Italian citizenship.
The reform introduced Article 3-bis into Law 91/1992, restricting recognition of citizenship by birth for people born abroad who also hold another nationality.
The exceptions provided for include situations related to the exclusively Italian nationality of one parent or grandparent, the legal residence of one parent in Italy, and applications submitted within the transition deadlines established by legislation.
La Marca’s resolution seeks the revision of aspects of this system, especially to expand and standardize the possibilities for transmission.
