Italian citizenship for Americans is still achievable in 2026, but the rules changed fundamentally on March 27, 2025, when the decree law 36/2025 converted into Law 74/2025 took effect. If your Italian roots go back three or more generations, the reform directly affects your eligibility. Here is what you need to know before you start gathering documents.
Law 74/2025 Ended Unlimited Generational Claims
For more than 160 years, Italian jure sanguinis (citizenship by blood) operated with no generational limit. If the chain of descent was unbroken, the right passed indefinitely, regardless of how many generations separated an applicant from their Italian-born ancestor.
Law 74/2025, also called the Tajani Law after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, ended that. The new Article 3-bis in Law 91/1992 inserts a two-generation cap and exclusivity requirement. Automatic transmission now covers only children and grandchildren of an Italian-born citizen that has never held another citizenship. Most Italian-Americans are third or fourth generation, and many ancestors naturalized (acquired US citizenship), which means the majority of new applicants no longer qualify under the automatic route.
The Italian Constitutional Court upheld Article 3-bis in Ruling No. 63/2026, issued April 30, 2026. The Court framed the reform as an original bar to acquisition rather than a revocation of existing citizenship, which matters legally because it means the law does not strip anyone of already-recognized status.
Three exceptions still allow recognition for applicants who did not file before the cutoff:
- The parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship and never acquired another nationality
- The parent legally and continuously resided in Italy for at least two consecutive years after acquiring Italian citizenship, and before the applicant’s birth
- The applicant had a confirmed Prenot@mi appointment or a completed filing on record before 11:59 PM Rome time on March 27, 2025
If none of those apply, the automatic descent route is closed.
Three Routes to Italian Citizenship
Each route has a different eligibility logic, processing path, and realistic timeline. Understanding which one applies to your situation is the first practical step.
Citizenship by descent (jure sanguinis), including the 1948 Rule
Italian citizenship by descent requires documenting an unbroken chain of birth, marriage, and death certificates for every generation between you and your Italian-born ancestor. This route works best for applicants who are descended by one or two generations from an Italian citizen, or who meet one of the three Law 74/2025 exceptions above.
A critical subset of jure sanguinis is the 1948 Rule. Before 1948, Italian law barred citizenship from passing through the maternal line. Italian Constitutional Court precedent from 1983 and a Supreme Court ruling from 2009 established that exclusion was discriminatory. But consulates are duty-bound to reject 1948 Rule claims. The only path for anyone whose Italian lineage runs through a female ancestor of childbearing age before 1948 is a proceeding in Italian court. That requirement holds regardless of your generation count under Law 74/2025.
Citizenship through marriage (jure matrimonii)
Law 74/2025 did not touch the marriage route. A foreign spouse of an Italian citizen may apply after three years of marriage while living abroad, reduced to one and a half years if the couple has minor or adopted children.
Italian language certification at B1 level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is required. Exemptions apply for EU long-term residents, holders of Italian-recognized degrees, and applicants with documented disability or advanced age. The Ministry of Interior evaluation takes 24 to 36 months after submission, with an oath ceremony required within six months of the decree.
Applying from inside Italy
Americans who establish legal residency in Italy and apply at their local comune (municipality) are entitled to a decision within 180 days under DPR 396/2000. In practice, processing takes two to six months. There is no Prenot@mi booking system and no consular jurisdiction limitation.
This is a processing route, not a separate citizenship category. The same eligibility rules apply: the two-generation cap, the unbroken lineage chain, citizenship exclusivity, and the marriage duration requirements must all still apply. But for applicants who qualify and are willing to move, applying at a comune is the only way to sidestep consular backlogs without going to court.
Two Pitfalls That End Applications Early
U.S. naturalization breaking the bloodline. Under Law 555/1912, when an Italian ancestor naturalized as a U.S. citizen, the Italian citizenship of any minor children living with them was also extinguished, even if those children held U.S. citizenship at birth. Ministry of Interior guidelines issued October 3, 2024, confirmed this: if the Italian ancestor lost citizenship before August 16, 1992, the minor child’s Italian citizenship ended with it. Applicants who assume their Italian line runs through a great-grandparent sometimes discover mid-process that the last qualifying Italian citizen was actually their grandparent, collapsing the entire case. This applies to every route being pursued: whether through the consulate, comune or court.
Name discrepancies across documents. Documentary coherence, not lineage proof in the abstract, is the central operational challenge. The consulate must reconcile your physical identity, your U.S. passport, the Italian civil registry record, and the fiscal identification system. A name that changed by a single letter across generations can stall or kill an application. Fixes often require amended certificates, new apostilles, certified retranslations, or reopening municipal transcription records.
When Italian Courts Are Your Only Real Option
Four circumstances push applicants toward the judicial route: 1948 Rule cases that meet the requirements of Article 3-bis; the consulate rejects your application; no Prenot@mi appointment is available or the next available appointment is more than two years out.
Court proceedings are declaratory, not constitutive. A judgment confirms existing legal status; it does not create citizenship. Here is what many applicants do not realize: winning the court case is not the finish line. Three additional steps are required before the citizenship becomes usable: registration for tax purposes, certification of the judgment as final, and transcription into the Italian civil registry. None of it is automatic, and each step takes additional time.
The Legal Debate Moves On To Luxembourg
On July 23, 2026, the Italian Constitutional Court reaffirmed the conclusions already reached in Judgment No. 63/2026 concerning the compatibility of Decree Law No. 36/2025, later converted into Law No. 74/2025, with the Italian Constitution. However, the Court has referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling to determine whether the new citizenship legislation is also compatible with European Union law.
This is a significant and welcome procedural development. The Italian Constitutional Court’s referral opens a vital new pathway to challenge the retroactive legislation that currently restricts many Americans of Italian heritage in their ability to obtain citizenship. This development offers renewed hope that European law may ultimately invalidate these sudden, retroactive deadlines, affirming that rights established at birth cannot be extinguished without a fair transition.
Find Out Where You Stand Before You File Anything
The core questions for any American pursuing Italian citizenship are: how many generations separate you from an Italian-born citizen? Did that ancestor ever hold another nationality, and does your lineage pass through a pre-1948 maternal line? The answers determine which route is available and whether Law 74/2025 closes or leaves open the path forward.
My Lawyer in Italy has helped English-speaking clients through jure sanguinis cases, including 1948 Rule and “no-appointment” judicial proceedings, for over a decade, guiding over 2000 clients to Italian citizenship recognition since 2014. Arturo Grasso’s 2016 no-appointment ruling established legal precedent that changed the process for applicants across the United States.
We handle case and documentation assessment, translations, court representation, Power of Attorney preparation for clients who cannot travel to Italy, codice fiscale (Italian tax identification) assistance, and A.I.R.E. (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero, the official registry of Italians living abroad) registration, all conducted in English.