A residence by virtue of Art. 43 Para. 2 of the Italian Civil Code is the place where a person usually lives, has family, carries out a social life, and lives when not otherwise working away from home or occupying a second home. In short, a residence is a “home base” that is continuously returned to.
In Italy, it is assumed that the actual residence of a person is the same one registered in their municipality. In our legal system, a residence is attributed to a single municipality. For this reason, we speak of a registered residence, with every citizen having the right to appear in the municipal registry.
A domicile, on the other hand, is a place where a person has established their principal headquarters for business or other interests. There can also be multiple domiciles, as the business may have various headquarters. An example may be those candidates for citizenship who elect to have a domicile located near their Italian lawyer’s law firm, solely because one of their interests is obtaining citizenship.
According to the Supreme Court of Cassation, the right of residence exists when two elements coexist, the objective and the subjective. The objective element is realized when a citizen has a stable living situation in a certain place. The subjective element, on the other hand, is realized when the citizen’s willingness to remain in that place is demonstrated.
But what risks are involved when declaring a residence other than your actual one? Reporting a false residence is a crime and those committing it are criminally liable. Crimes can range from forgery to inducing the forgery of a public official (a more serious offense).
There are numerous instances of criminal proceedings in which false residence declarations have been made expressly for the purpose of initiating a request for recognition of Italian citizenship by descent. In all these cases the interested party declared residence without meeting the above condition for requesting residency. Practically speaking, the administrative process takes 6-12 months, and so if those seeking citizenship have left before the process is complete, their request is cancelled. If they have simply changed plans and returned to their home country before the completion of the administrative process, then no law has been broken. However, if someone falsifies documents or induces someone to falsify documents with the sole aim of establishing residence quickly (as part of the application process for citizenship) and leaving the country soon after, legal charges may be brought.