In a press release issued today, following hearings held on March 11, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court announced that it will reject the constitutional challenges to Italy’s recent reform of citizenship by descent (see our prior article on What to expect in 2026). The decision appears set to confirm the validity of the government’s effort to restrict the previously expansive transmission of Italian citizenship to individuals born abroad to Italian ancestors. The Court has not yet published the full judgment.
The case concerned the constitutionality of Article 1 of Decree-Law No. 36/2025, later converted into Law No. 74/2025, which introduced significant restrictions on the transmission of citizenship jure sanguinis.
Background: Reform of Citizenship by Descent
For decades, Italian law allowed the transmission of citizenship by descent with virtually no generational limit, enabling many individuals born abroad to claim Italian nationality through ancestors who emigrated from Italy.
The 2025 Reform introduced a departure from this principle. Under the new rules, a person born abroad who also holds another nationality is considered never to have acquired Italian citizenship, unless one of several specific conditions applies. These include situations where:
- a citizenship recognition application was submitted by March 27, 2025,
- a parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship, or
- a parent resided in Italy for at least two continuous years after acquiring Italian citizenship and before the child’s birth or adoption.
The 2025 Reform has been controversial, particularly among individuals pursuing recognition of Italian citizenship abroad.
The Constitutional Challenge
The case before the Court arose from a referral by the Turin Court, which questioned whether the reform violated several constitutional and international principles.
The referring court argued, in particular, that the legislation might breach Article 3 of the Italian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. According to this argument, the reform introduced an arbitrary distinction between individuals who applied for recognition of citizenship before March 28, 2025 and those who applied afterwards.
The Turin Court also suggested that the law effectively resulted in a retroactive deprivation of citizenship, potentially undermining vested rights.
Court’s Findings
The Constitutional Court rejected these arguments.
According to the press release, the Court declared the constitutional challenges partly unfounded and partly inadmissible, thereby leaving the 2025 Reform in place.
The Court specifically rejected the claim that the legislation violates Article 3 of the Constitution by arbitrarily distinguishing between applicants based on the date of their citizenship request. It also dismissed the argument that the reform constitutes an implicit and retroactive revocation of citizenship.
EU Law and Human Rights Claims
The Court further addressed arguments based on European Union law. The Turin Court had argued that the 2025 Reform might conflict with provisions of the EU Treaties—particularly Article 9 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which define EU citizenship as deriving from the nationality of a Member State.
The Court found these claims unfounded, reaffirming that Member States retain primary authority to determine the rules governing their own nationality.
Additional challenges based on international human rights instruments—including Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights—were declared inadmissible.
Next Steps
At this stage, the Court has issued only a press announcement, and the full judgment—together with the Court’s reasoning—will become available once the decision is formally filed. The ruling will be closely examined as it is expected to clarify the constitutional basis of the reform and its implications for pending applications and litigation. For now, however, the message from the Court appears clear: the core framework of the 2025 Reform remains constitutionally valid.
At the same time, the broader legal debate over Italian citizenship by descent continues before the United Sections of the Italian Court of Cassation, which will hear two closely watched appeals involving Italian-American families whose citizenship claims were denied by lower courts. The hearing, initially scheduled for January 2026, has been postponed to April 2026. The proceedings will address two key issues: the continued validity of the rule under Law No. 555 of 1912 providing for the automatic loss of citizenship by minors when their parents naturalized abroad, and—more importantly—the potential retroactive effect of the 2025 Reform. Because rulings of the Court of Cassation’s United Sections are binding on all Italian courts, the expected decision in spring 2026 could provide decisive guidance for thousands of descendants of Italian emigrants worldwide and clarify the future scope of citizenship recognition proceedings.
At With Papers, we closely monitor all legal and judicial developments related to Italian citizenship. This allows us to provide up-to-date guidance and help applicants navigate the process confidently, whether their application is pending, rejected, or yet to be submitted.
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