Jure sanguinis—Latin for “by right of blood”—is the principle by which Italy recognises citizenship passed down through the bloodline. For generations it offered the descendants of Italian emigrants a path back to Italy and, with it, the European Union. In 2025 that path narrowed dramatically. This guide explains what jure sanguinis is, how the 2025 reform changed it, who may still qualify, and what an application involves—so you can understand where you stand before investing time and money.
Important: This article is general information for educational purposes, not legal advice. Italian citizenship law changed substantially in 2025 and remains the subject of active litigation through 2026, so rules and interpretations continue to evolve. Whether you qualify depends on the specific facts of your family line. Always verify the current rules with official Italian government sources (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and your competent consulate) and consult a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer before acting on any of this.
What jure sanguinis means
Italy has long treated citizenship as something transmitted by descent rather than by place of birth. Under the traditional rule, if you could document an unbroken chain of citizenship from an Italian ancestor down to you—each generation passing it to the next—you could be recognised as an Italian citizen who had, in effect, been one since birth. The state was seen as acknowledging a pre-existing right, not granting a new one. For descendants of the millions who left during the great migration, this opened a remarkable door.
The 2025 reform changed everything
On 28 March 2025 the Italian government issued Decree-Law No. 36/2025, known as the “Tajani Decree,” which Parliament converted into Law No. 74/2025, in force from 24 May 2025. For the first time it imposed a generational limit on automatic citizenship by descent. Where the old rule allowed unlimited generations—back to any ancestor who was an Italian citizen on or after unification (17 March 1861), provided the chain was unbroken—recognition is now generally limited to those with an Italian-born parent or grandparent. Our dedicated article on the 2025 changes covers the reform in detail.
Italy’s Constitutional Court reviewed the reform and, in a decision made public in March 2026 with full reasoning deposited at the end of April 2026 (Judgment No. 63/2026), upheld it as compatible with the Constitution—while leaving some questions open. Further cases remained before the courts through 2026. In short: the new limits are in force, but the legal landscape is still moving.
Who may still qualify
Broadly, under the reformed rules:
- Generally still eligible — people born abroad with at least one parent or grandparent born in Italy, where the unbroken line can be documented and other conditions are met.
- Generally no longer automatically eligible — those whose nearest Italian-born ancestor is a great-grandparent or further back, unless a transitional protection or statutory exception applies.
- Transitional protection — broadly, applications formally filed, or consular appointments confirmed, before 11:59 PM Rome time on 27 March 2025 are assessed under the prior, unlimited rules.
Eligibility is more technical than these summaries suggest—it turns on naturalisation timing, the 1948 question, and more. See who qualifies for Italian citizenship by descent for the detail.
Not sure where your line falls? Start by identifying your most recent Italian-born ancestor and finding their record—begin with tracing your ancestry and the free records hub, then get a case-specific assessment from a qualified professional via the citizenship guide.
The two complications everyone meets
Two issues complicate many otherwise-eligible claims. The 1948 rule: before 1 January 1948, Italian women could not transmit citizenship to their children, so claims through a maternal line crossing that date have historically required a court petition rather than a consular application—explained in our 1948 rule article. The “minor issue”: questions about whether an ancestor’s naturalisation in another country, while the next person in the line was still a minor, breaks the chain. Both have been the subject of litigation.
The documents are the heart of it
Whatever your path, every jure sanguinis claim rests on the same foundation: a complete, consistent, certified chain of vital records—births, marriages and deaths—proving the line from your Italian-born ancestor to you, with foreign documents apostilled and translated. Assembling this set is the core of the work, and it is exactly what this site helps you do, from finding the records in Antenati and the comune to understanding what documents you need.
How to apply
Recognition is generally sought in person at your competent Italian consulate, or at an Italian comune if you establish residence there, or—in certain cases such as 1948 maternal-line claims—through the Italian courts. Each route has different timelines, costs and requirements, compared in consulate versus court. Wait times at consulates can be very long, which is part of why many applicants seek professional help.
If you no longer qualify
The reform left an alternative for some: those with an Italian parent or grandparent who fall outside automatic recognition may, in certain cases, pursue naturalisation by residence on an accelerated two-year track rather than the standard ten years. Whether this fits depends entirely on your circumstances—another reason a tailored legal assessment matters.
Begin where every claim begins: the records. Trace your Italian-born ancestor with the research guide, gather the chain via the documents guide, and find document-procurement, translation and legal help on the citizenship hub.
The appeal—and the reality check
It is worth being clear-eyed about why so many people pursue this. Italian citizenship is also European Union citizenship, carrying the right to live, work and study across the EU, alongside the deep personal meaning of formal connection to an ancestral homeland. That combination made jure sanguinis one of the most sought-after ancestry-based citizenships in the world, with applicants numbering in the millions across the Americas and Australia. The 2025 reform was, in large part, a response to exactly that scale of demand.
The reality check is that the door is now substantially narrower than the stories your family may have heard. If a relative obtained Italian citizenship through a great-grandparent a few years ago, that same path may simply no longer be open to you under the current rules. Approaching the process with up-to-date expectations—rather than the pre-2025 assumptions still circulating online—saves a great deal of disappointment and wasted effort. Start by honestly counting the generations back to your nearest Italian-born ancestor.
How this site helps
Italian Roots Project cannot give you legal advice or process your application—those are jobs for qualified professionals and the Italian authorities. What it can do is help with the part every claim depends on regardless of the legal twists: the genealogy. Identifying your most recent Italian-born ancestor, finding their record in the comune, tracing the unbroken line, and assembling the documented chain are the foundation of any jure sanguinis claim, and they are precisely what our research guides are built to support.
From that foundation, the specialised questions—eligibility under the reform, the 1948 issue, the right venue, the current state of the law—are ones to take to a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer, whom you can find through the resources on our citizenship hub. Genealogy first, legal assessment second: that order serves almost everyone well.
