By Luis Roberto Lorenzato
Italy, a country that once shone as a jewel of history and culture, now finds itself enveloped in an alarming reality.
Its once lively cities are now turning into shadows, with abandoned houses being offered on social media around the world for as little as 1 euro.
Not even in the worst favelas in Brazil can you find shacks for that price! What a disgrace!
The flight of 100.000 young people abroad between 2022 and 2023, in search of opportunities and a better future, has become a sad routine. Many of them emigrate to South America, mainly to Brazil, just as they did at the end of the XNUMXth century…
Faced with this bleak scenario, a disturbing question arises:
Why do some sectors of the government and the judiciary attack Italians living abroad?
Wouldn't there be more serious and urgent issues to be resolved?
Italy, this old lady who is dying, seems to forget her children who live beyond her borders and prefers to die alone? Or to be cared for by Islamic caregivers?
Just to remind you that these children, who bring 121 billion euros to the country through the famous and desired back-to-roots tourism, are despised and neglected.
If we are the true ambassadors of “Made in Italy”, why so much contempt? Is anything fair in politics?
The answer may lie in a deeper political need, an urgency to create a narrative that justifies the unjustifiable.
The Italian left, together with a party that calls itself “centrist”, Forza Italia, faced with the challenge of legalizing millions of illegal immigrants to turn them into voters, is desperately trying to build a narrative that will allow it to gain electoral support.
What they do?
Italians around the world are being attacked, precisely those who try to keep their roots and ties with Italy alive through citizenship. In many cases, these Italians are forced to pay expensive lawyers to file lawsuits or resort to agencies to speed up the cinematic Italian bureaucracy in order to obtain their recognition! A right!
This political group is orchestrating a media campaign that aims to destroy the foundations of a rule of law, attacking the sacred principle of Italian birthright.
This strategy includes attempts to change the ius sanguinis law on citizenship to implement ius soli and ius culturae, which would grant citizenship to anyone born in Italian territory or to anyone who attends a school.
Unable to advance this proposal in Parliament, they create stories and falsehoods to manipulate public opinion and “influence” the judicial system.
Requests for recognition of citizenship by Italian-Brazilians are being used as a pretext to generate confusion and attempt to modify legislation not in Parliament, but in the Court of Cassation, absurdly alleging the unconstitutionality of Article 1 of the Law on Italian citizenship.
Citizenship, which should be transmitted in a sacred way from father or mother to child, is being distorted and perverted.
There is nothing in the law saying that it is grandparents, great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents who transmit citizenship; but rather the parents!
When an Italian immigrant ancestor had a child in Brazil, that child automatically acquired the Italian citizenship at birth, becoming Italian by law and in fact, in the first person.
The narrative they try to construct suggests that we are just great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren of Italians who left many centuries ago. This is not true!
This is a profound fallacy. Our family relationship is a solid bond, built on history, affection and blood, a continuous line of Italians. As On. Mirko Tremaglia stated, we are not just distant descendants; we are an integral part of a history that has its roots in the heart of every Italian.
Unfortunately, many left-wing activist lawyers, who fight to legalize illegal immigrants, now publish articles trying to change all legislation, distorting the truth and creating a negative image of us.
But we were born Italians, just like those who accuse us.
We share the same nationality by right of blood, but they reject our identity.
Claiming that we are “new citizens” who acquire citizenship only because of a distant ancestor is legally incorrect and unfair.
The law is clear: “The child of an Italian father or mother is Italian.” It does not mention grandchildren, great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren born inside or outside Italian territory.
They have gone so far as to claim that we have been outside Italy for seven or eight generations, that we do not speak our dialects or Italian, that we do not even know where the country is — all this with the sole aim of diminishing our rights and our ties to the homeland. How absurd!
But our bond is strong, rooted in the values passed down to us by our parents.
As the old saying goes, “Blood is not water!”
Italy is in a coma, and now is the time to wake up.
It is time to recognize your children, who, even physically distant, carry in their hearts the essence of this great nation.
Their dreams, their hopes and their love for their homeland remain intact, ready to awaken an Italy that can no longer afford to forget them.
It is time to return to being a living nation, united and proud of its roots, its children, its history and, above all, its future!
*Luis Roberto di San Martino Lorenzato di Ivrea is an Italian-Brazilian lawyer, businessman and politician. He was a member of the Italian Parliament for the right-wing League party.
