In 2025 Italy enacted the most significant change to citizenship by descent in over thirty years, abruptly narrowing a path that millions of people around the world had assumed would always be open. The reform has reshaped who can become Italian through ancestry, set off a wave of litigation, and left many families uncertain where they stand. This article explains what changed, when, and what has happened since—as clearly as a fast-moving legal story allows.
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.
The Tajani Decree and Law 74/2025
The change began on 28 March 2025, when the Italian government issued Decree-Law No. 36/2025, widely called the “Tajani Decree” after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. As an emergency decree it took effect immediately, and Parliament then converted it—with amendments—into Law No. 74/2025, in force from 24 May 2025. The law inserted a new provision (Article 3-bis) into Italy’s citizenship law, fundamentally altering how citizenship by descent works.
What actually changed: the generational limit
The heart of the reform is a generational limit. Previously, Italian citizenship could be claimed through an unbroken line back to any ancestor who was an Italian citizen on or after unification on 17 March 1861, with no limit on the number of generations. The reform replaced this with a proximity rule: in general, only those born abroad with an Italian-born parent or grandparent retain automatic recognition. A new framing also treats a person born abroad who already holds another citizenship as not having automatically acquired Italian citizenship unless an exception applies—a significant conceptual shift from the old “citizen from birth” understanding.
The transitional deadline
The reform drew a line in time. Applications formally filed—or consular appointments confirmed—before 11:59 PM Rome time on 27 March 2025 are assessed under the prior, unlimited-generation rules. Those who acted after that point fall under the new regime. The position of people who tried to act before the deadline but could not obtain an appointment became one of the most contested questions of all, and has been the subject of differing court decisions.
Wondering how the changes affect your line? The threshold question is your most recent Italian-born ancestor—identify and document it with the research guide, then get a case assessment via the citizenship guide.
Why Italy did it
The government justified the reform by pointing to a surge of applications—especially from the large Italian diasporas of South America, as well as North America and Australia—and to a stated aim of tying citizenship to a genuine, current connection with Italy rather than distant ancestry alone. Estimates that tens of millions of people worldwide were potentially eligible under the old rules made some restriction, in the government’s view, politically inevitable. Critics countered that the change betrayed Italy’s historic bond with its emigrants and their descendants, and challenged it in the courts.
The litigation since: 2026
The reform did not settle the matter; it moved the fight to the courts. The key developments through 2026:
- Constitutional Court Judgment No. 63/2026 — announced by communiqué in March 2026 and with full reasoning deposited at the end of April 2026, the Court rejected the challenges brought by the Tribunal of Turin and upheld the reform, including its retroactive effect, as compatible with the Constitution. It did, however, leave certain questions open—notably the position of those who had taken concrete steps before the 27 March 2025 deadline without securing an appointment.
- Further constitutional challenges — additional referrals from other courts kept the constitutionality of aspects of the reform under review through 2026.
- The Court of Cassation — Italy’s highest civil court took up related questions, including the “minor issue” and the deeper dispute over whether citizenship by descent is a permanent right from birth or a status dependent on state recognition—a question with large implications for pending cases.
- Divergent lower-court rulings — some Italian courts recognised citizenship in post-reform cases reaching beyond the new limit, while others applied the limits strictly, underlining how case-specific outcomes have become.
Where things stand
As of mid-2026, the picture is this: the 2025 reform is in force and has been upheld by the Constitutional Court, so the two-generation limit governs new applications. But the law is not fully settled—significant questions remain before the higher courts, lower courts have reached differing results, and the legal nature of citizenship by descent is itself being debated within the Italian judiciary. For most descendants whose nearest Italian-born ancestor is a great-grandparent or beyond, the broad old route is effectively closed; for those nearer, or with a strong pre-deadline claim, paths remain—but they are now technical and contested.
What to do with this
The practical takeaways are steady even as the details shift. First, the threshold question is your most recent Italian-born ancestor: count the generations. Second, whatever your situation, you will need the same documented chain of records, so that foundational work is never wasted. Third, because this is a fast-moving, heavily litigated area, general information has limits—verify the current rules against official Italian government sources and get a case-specific assessment from a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer before you act. This article reflects the situation as understood in mid-2026 and will date as the courts continue their work.
What the reform means for the diaspora
Behind the legal mechanics is a profound human and historical shift. For well over a century, Italy treated the descendants of its emigrants as latent citizens, members of a global Italian family who could reclaim their place whenever they chose. The 2025 reform marks a turn away from that expansive vision toward a narrower, proximity-based conception of who counts as Italian. For the tens of millions of people in Argentina and Brazil, the United States, Canada and Australia who descend from the great migration, it redrew the boundary of belonging—and for many, closed a door they had always believed was open.
That is why the reform provoked such strong reactions and such determined litigation: it touches not only paperwork but identity, and the question of whether a state can retroactively decide that people it once would have recognised were “never” citizens goes to deep principles. However the remaining cases are resolved, the episode has permanently changed the relationship between Italy and its diaspora, and the easy confidence that “I can always get my Italian citizenship someday” belongs, for most distant descendants, to the past.
Following developments responsibly
Because this story is still unfolding, staying accurately informed matters. New court rulings, the eventual decisions of the higher courts on the open questions, and any further implementing measures could all refine who can qualify and how. When you follow the topic, favour recent, reform-aware sources and, above all, the official Italian government channels—the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and your consulate—over older material or second-hand summaries that may predate the changes. And remember that even an accurate general account cannot resolve an individual case; for that, a qualified Italian citizenship lawyer working from your documented line is irreplaceable. The most useful thing you can do while the law settles is the timeless thing: build a complete, accurate, well-documented family history, so that whatever paths remain open, you are ready to pursue them.
