Approved this Tuesday (20) in the Chamber of Deputies, decree-law nº 36/2025 marks a dark moment for the millions of descendants of Italians spread across the world. With unrestricted support from the base of Giorgia Meloni's government, Italy has turned its back on one of its deepest identity marks: the unconditional connection with its diaspora.
With the speech of “fighting abuses”, Meloni and his allies bury the principle of swear sanguinis, which for decades was a living expression of Italian belonging overseas. Under the pretext of “protecting the system”, the government simply tore apart the historical ties that connected the country to the children and grandchildren of those who one day set sail by ship, with hope, and left behind not only a land, but a homeland.
It is impossible not to see the paradox: a government that talks so much about roots, identity and national sovereignty denies millions of legitimate descendants simply because they were born outside the peninsula.
A decree with a name and a face
The new rule — dubbed the “Tajani Law,” after Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani — restricts the Italian citizenship only to children and grandchildren of Italians, imposing demands that ignore historical and migratory realities. The requirement of an “effective link” with Italy sounds almost like a mockery to those who grew up in families that spoke Venetian, Abruzzese, Calabrian dialects, cooked their grandmother’s recipes and hoped, one day, to see in passport the recognition of one's own origin.
The decree also includes a cruel article, 3-bis, which declares that anyone born outside Italy and holding another citizenship will be considered as never having been Italian — unless it fits into bureaucratic exceptions. In other words: from now on, Italian descent has lost its legal dignity. And with that, a part of the Italian soul is also lost in the world.
Meloni abandons his
There is no way to sugarcoat it: Meloni broke with the Italian descendants. He broke with his campaign promises, he broke with the republican tradition of welcoming the children of emigration, he broke with the Constitution — according to experts — and with the very idea of an extended nation.
Those who have always been told that they are “Italian by blood” are now considered an administrative nuisance. They are seen as “fake citizens”, as “a threat to the system”, as “passport statistics”. What an institutional tragedy.
Justice as the last refuge
Now it is up to those who have been betrayed by this government to resort to the Judiciary. Hope lies in the courts, in historical jurisprudence, in Article 24 of the Italian Constitution, which guarantees everyone access to justice. The fight, therefore, remains in the hands of lawyers, descendants' associations, families who refuse to be erased.
A historical shame
What Giorgia Meloni did was not just pass a decree. She closed the door in the face of millions of descendants who, for decades, have proudly maintained their Italian roots. She tore the bridge between Italy and its diaspora.
And in doing so, he made it clear: his government is not the guardian of Italian traditions — it is the architect of their oblivion.
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