The Constitutional Court of Italy confirmed, this Wednesday (22), the holding of the hearing that will discuss the validity of Italian citizenship by descent without limits. The session is scheduled for June 24, 2025, at 9:30 am (Rome time), in a unified hearing.
The trial brings together actions forwarded by the courts of Bologna, Milan, Rome and Florence, all questioning whether the transmission of Italian citizenship is based on the principle of jus sanguinis (blood right) can occur without temporal restrictions or ties to the country. The lawyers acting as patrons of the processes are: Antonio Cattaneo, Franco Antonazzo and Marco Mellone.
In neither case did the Italian State choose to participate in the hearing, despite the national and international relevance of the issue. “In none of these cases that the Court will analyze did the Italian State want to participate,” said lawyer Antonio Cattaneo.
There was fear among legal professionals that the Court would postpone the hearing or decide to judge each case separately. Confirmation of the unified judgment was received as a sign of the constitutional relevance of the issue.
Law under debate
The central case involves a group of 12 Brazilians who are seeking recognition of Italian citizenship based on an ancestor born in 1876. The Bologna Court was the first to raise the issue, questioning whether automatic recognition for distant descendants—those with no cultural, linguistic, or territorial ties to Italy—is in accordance with constitutional principles.
In an interview with the newspaper La Repubblica, the court's president, Pasquale Liccardo, said: “We have millions of descendants of Italians abroad who could apply for citizenship, impacting the definition of people and citizenship as provided for in the Constitution.”
New law on the agenda
The trial comes at a crucial time. The Italian Parliament approved – on Tuesday (20) – new legislation that limits the right to citizenship by blood, including retroactively.
The hearing on the 24th will be the first constitutional test of this new law. The Court's decision could define the course of Italian citizenship for millions of descendants abroad.
“This is a very important event for the right to Italian citizenship by descent for many descendants. On that day, the Court will establish whether the transmission of Italian citizenship by blood without limits or conditions is constitutional or not. The judgment could also have a clear impact on the constitutionality of the law that Parliament has just approved. In fact, this new law considered the previous law unreasonable and dangerous and restricted, even retroactively, the transmission of citizenship by blood, placing important limits,” Cattaneo said in a statement to [publication name]. Italianism.
Broad impact
According to lawyers Antonio Cattaneo and Marco Mellone, the unification of the cases shows the seriousness of the legal issue. The Court will analyze not only the current rule, but also its compatibility with the fundamental rights provided for in the Italian Constitution.
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