The lawyer Maria Stella La Malfa, responsible for the case of Italian citizenship denied to a minor, explained to Italianism how the legal team structured the action that took the issue to the Constitutional Court of Italy.
The case was detailed this Friday (24), in the article “Italian citizenship denied to minor leads to analysis by the Constitutional Court".
According to the lawyer, the case took a different path than usual. Instead of waiting for a hearing to be scheduled, the defense chose to directly file a lawsuit with the Court based on a case they had built to raise the issue of unconstitutionality.
“The issue was handled in an innovative way in relation to the common procedure normally adopted in citizenship recognition actions,” he stated.
The case began with a request for a birth certificate for a minor not mentioned in the original citizenship recognition ruling. The strategy sought to elicit a formal refusal from the civil status officer—a legal requirement for initiating legal proceedings, as per Article 95 of Presidential Decree No. 396 of 2000.
Initially, the response from the municipal official of Canneto sull'Oglio was vague. However, after insistence, a clear and formal refusal was issued, as provided for in the standard.
“At first, the officer gave a vague response, but after refusing to respond, he understood that he should have issued an express and formal ruling, as was done.”
With this denial in hand, the case was taken to the Court of Mantua, accompanied by questions about the constitutionality of Law No. 74/2025, which modified the rules of Italian citizenship.
The professor of Constitutional Law participated in the process Alfonso Celotto, who also acted as sponsoring attorney in the judicial phase.
“The referral order (ordinanza) issued by the Court is particularly well-founded, addressing several constitutional and systematic profiles, and is expected to be published shortly in the Official Gazette”, stated La Malfa.
The lawyer emphasized that the focus of the lawsuit is not the difference in treatment between siblings, but rather the specific situation of minor children, as provided for in Article 3-bis of the Citizenship Law. The new law automatically excludes children not mentioned in the judgment, even if they were born before the law came into effect.
“It is important to emphasize that the issue does not refer to the disparity in treatment between siblings, but exclusively to the situation of a minor child […] as regards all those born before the new law, regardless of age.”
According to La Malfa, other similar actions have already been filed by her and new initiatives are being prepared to challenge provisions that, according to her, are also unconstitutional.
“Other lawsuits against municipalities' refusals to transcribe have already been filed, and new initiatives are being prepared before other courts,” he concluded.
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