Flávio, Eduardo and Carlos Bolsonaro obtained recognition of Italian citizenship through the Bonturi line from Lucca, Tuscany, rather than through the Bolzonaro branch from Anguillara Veneta, Veneto, as had been speculated.
Italianismo obtained an official document related to the family’s ancestry recorded in Lucca.
The Bonturi branch was chosen for practical reasons: the Italian ancestor in that line was one generation closer to the applicants, reducing the number of records needed to demonstrate the family chain. The Bolzonaro branch would also have presented additional difficulties in identifying names in the documents, Italianismo found.
According to a source interviewed by the outlet, the goal was to obtain citizenship recognition through the simplest documentary route, and a tribute to their grandmother Olinda Bonturi was not the determining reason for choosing the branch.
The information contrasts with the emphasis placed on Veneto origins in Italian reports published in recent days. Corriere del Veneto highlighted the connection to Anguillara Veneta, while la Repubblica mentioned the family’s Veneto ancestry. The family’s Veneto origin is real, but it does not determine which line was used to recognize the three brothers’ citizenship.
Why the Lucca line was simpler
Guido Bonturi, born in Lucca on March 24, 1893, was Jair Bolsonaro’s maternal grandfather and the great-grandfather of Flávio, Eduardo and Carlos. Vittorio Bolzonaro, born in Anguillara Veneta in 1878, was Jair’s paternal great-grandfather and the great-great-grandfather of his children.
In the Bonturi line, the sequence runs from Guido to Olinda Bonturi, then to Jair Bolsonaro and his three children. In the Bolzonaro line, it would be necessary to go back one more generation, to Vittorio. In general, that means gathering one additional set of certificates and checking for possible discrepancies among names and records.
The source reported name-identification issues in the Bolzonaro branch. Available genealogy distinguishes Vittorio Bolzonaro, Jair’s paternal great-grandfather, from Angelo Bolsonaro, his paternal grandfather. Discrepancies in the records could require document corrections, although it was not possible to determine which corrections would be necessary.
Who was Guido Bonturi
Guido Sabatino Giovanni Bonturi was born March 24, 1893, in the city of Lucca, Tuscany. According to data compiled by FamilySearch, he was the son of Maurizio Bonturi and Amalia Lenzi, who married in Lucca on June 9 of that year.
He emigrated to Brazil and settled in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo state. On April 17, 1915, he married Argentina Pardini, also a native of Lucca, who was born in 1892.
Guido was among the founders of Campinas Futebol Clube, established Sept. 7, 1929, in Vila Industrial, according to research by historian Sérgio Mello published in História do Futebol, based on references to old newspapers and research by Celso Franco.
Guido and Argentina had a large family. Their identified children include Rolando, Iolanda, Dino Bonturi Sobrinho, Armando, Haroldo, Olinda and Leonilda.
Argentina died in 1952 and Guido in 1965, according to available genealogical records.
From Olinda to the three Bolsonaro brothers
Olinda Bonturi, daughter of Guido and Argentina, was born in 1927 and married Percy Geraldo Bolsonaro. She was the mother of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, born in 1955, and the grandmother of Flávio, Eduardo and Carlos.
Olinda died in January 2022, after the consular applications had begun but before the citizenship recognitions.
According to the source, the Bonturi branch was chosen because its documentation was easier to obtain, not as a tribute to Olinda. Jair’s maternal line went directly back to his mother’s Italian parents; on his paternal line, the identified Italian ancestor was one generation further back.
Genealogy had been known since 2018
The family’s ancestry was investigated by genealogist Daniel Taddone in research published in 2018.
The research identified the Bonturi and Pardini families, from Tuscany, on Jair Bolsonaro’s maternal side, and the Bolzonaro family, from Veneto, on his paternal side.
The origins of the ancestors in Lucca were also reported by the Italian newspaper Il Tirreno in October of that year.
The genealogy, therefore, is not new. The exclusive information reported to Italianismo concerns the lineage used in the citizenship recognitions and the documentary explanation for its selection, attributed to a source connected to the procedures.
Citizenship recognitions in 2023 and 2024
Flávio and Eduardo Bolsonaro had their Italian citizenship recognized in 2023. Carlos obtained recognition in 2024, according to an Italian government parliamentary response dated Oct. 8, 2025.
The government said the brothers requested placement on the waiting list at the Italian Embassy in Brasília beginning in 2020 and that the recognitions were completed after the legal requirements were reviewed.
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