In a decision published this Tuesday (22), the Court of L'Aquila, in the Abruzzo region, recognized the right to Italian citizenship jure sanguinis of 31 Italian-Brazilians, including 11 minors. The ruling, handed down by Judge Elvira Buzzelli, represents a significant victory against the restrictive spirit of the Tajani Decree, recently enacted into law.
Although the process was initiated under previous legislation, the decision clearly reaffirms the prevailing understanding among constitutionalists: Italian citizenship it is a right subjective, permanent and imprescriptible.
Law that does not prescribe
In the sentence, the judge highlighted:
“The status of citizen, once acquired by descent, birth or naturalization, produces permanent effects throughout the individual's life, and can only be lost voluntarily, by express or tacit waiver.”
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LEARN MORE“Lo status civitatis, una volta acquisito per discendenza, nascita o naturalizzazione, spiega effetti permanenti per tutta la durata della vita del soggetto, que può loselo solo su base volontaria, ossia through rinuncia espressa o tacita.”
And added:
“Citizenship status, once acquired, is permanent in nature, imprescriptible and can be claimed at any time, based on simple proof of birth as an Italian citizen.”
“Lo status di cittadino, una volta acquisito, ha natura permanent, è imprescrittibile ed è giustiziabile in no time on the basis of all the proof of the integral acquisitive fattispecie dalla nascita da cittadino italiana.”
Solid documentary evidence
The applicants proved their descent from an Italian born in Capistrello (AQ) in 1875, who migrated to Brazil in the early XNUMXth century. The ruling — to which the portal Italianism had access — describes the genealogical line in detail and records:
“The applicants proved, firstly, that the ascendant never naturalized and, therefore, transmitted the status of Italian citizen to his descendants.”
The absence of voluntary naturalization — combined with the lack of formal renunciation — confirmed the continuity of the legal bond between generations.
Dual citizenship is legitimate
One of the main points contested by the decision is the thesis — supported by the Tajani Decree — that the existence of another citizenship (in this case, Brazilian) could prevent the recognition of Italian citizenship.
The judge clearly refuted this interpretation:
“The natural child born abroad of an Italian citizen does not lose the right to Italian citizenship just because the State where he was born granted him, at least ius soli, their own nationality.”
“Il figlio naturale nato all'estero da cittadino italiana does not lose the Italian cittadinanza per il solo fatto che lo Stato in cui esso è nato gli abbia attribuito (iure soli) la propria cittadinanza.”
This understanding is not new. The ruling recalls that Italian jurisprudence, already in decisions prior to Law No. 555/1912, recognized the possibility of dual citizenship:
“… the jurisprudence of the time (Cassation of Naples, sentence of October 5, 1907, and Court of Appeal of Casale, sentence of April 15, 1902) had already established that the natural child born abroad of an Italian citizen does not lose the Italian citizenship simply because the State where he was born has assigned him, at least ius soli, their own citizenship. In other words, the possibility of establishing dual citizenship in favor of the applicant was already admitted, through the praetorian system and even before Law No. 555/1912, 'this being an inevitable consequence, in the current state of international law, of the concept of sovereignty, which necessarily includes the characteristics of autonomy and independence of each State within its own territory,'" the judge added.
In the ruling, the judge also recognized the validity of Brazil-Italy dual citizenship, arguing that Brazilian nationality, acquired by birth (ius soli), does not exclude the right to Italian citizenship inherited (jus sanguinis).
This point was especially important because it contradicted the interpretation promoted by the Tajani Decree, which seeks to restrict the recognition of citizenship in certain cases.
For Reginaldo Maia, from Blessed Citizenship, who advised the 31 Italian-Brazilians who benefited from the sentence, the decision confirms the Judiciary's consistency with what is provided for in the Constitution:
“This ruling reinforces what we have all reiterated: the right to Italian citizenship cannot be shaped by political expediency.”
According to him, citizenship, by its nature, is an irrevocable legal condition: “The effort to limit it through political decrees is a legal distortion that cannot be sustained under the constitutional system.”
