Are you a descendant of an Italian citizen seeking to obtain Italian citizenship by descent in 2026? This article is designed specifically for individuals like you—those with Italian ancestry who want to understand their eligibility for Italian citizenship under the latest rules and court decisions. The landscape of Italian citizenship law has changed dramatically in recent years, with the introduction of a two-generation limit and new requirements that have left many applicants uncertain about their rights. The urgency of this topic cannot be overstated: recent legal reforms and landmark court decisions, especially the Supreme Court’s Cassazione 13818/2026, have fundamentally altered who can apply, how applications are processed, and what legal arguments remain available for those previously blocked by bureaucracy or shifting regulations.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the current 2026 rules for Italian citizenship by descent, focusing on the impact of Decree-Law No. 36/2025, Law No. 74/2025, and the crucial Cassazione 13818/2026 judgment. We will explain the eligibility criteria, the effect of the two-generation limit, the non-retroactivity rule for applications submitted before and after March 27, 2025, and how the Supreme Court’s recent decision affects your chances. Whether you are just starting your journey or have been told your path is closed, this guide will clarify your options and the urgent steps you should take.
Transition:
Before diving into the details of the Supreme Court case, let’s first review the current eligibility rules and how the recent legal changes affect applications for Italian citizenship by descent in 2026.
Italian Citizenship by Descent in 2026: Eligibility Criteria and Key Requirements
Current Eligibility Criteria for Italian Citizenship by Descent (2026)
As of 2026, the following criteria apply to those seeking Italian citizenship by descent:
- Two-Generation Limit: Only descendants within two generations of an Italian citizen (i.e., children and grandchildren) can apply for automatic acquisition of citizenship without additional requirements. This rule was introduced by Decree-Law No. 36/2025 and Law No. 74/2025, replacing the previous system that allowed for unlimited generational transmission.
- Ancestor’s Citizenship Status: The Italian ancestor must have been an Italian citizen at the time of the applicant’s birth. You must demonstrate that citizenship was transmitted from your Italian-born ancestor to you.
- No Prior Naturalization: The Italian ancestor must not have naturalized in another country before the birth of their child in the lineage. If the ancestor became a citizen of another country before their child was born, the right to transmit citizenship is interrupted (this is known as the “Minor Issue”).
- Ancestor Alive After March 17, 1861: The ancestor through whom you claim citizenship must have been alive on or after March 17, 1861—the date of Italian unification—since only those alive at that time could pass on Italian citizenship.
- Exclusively Italian Citizenship: The parent or grandparent through whom you claim must have held exclusively Italian citizenship at the relevant time.
These rules apply to all applications submitted after March 27, 2025. Applications submitted before this date are processed under the previous, less restrictive criteria.
The Two-Generation Limit and Non-Retroactivity: What Changed in 2025–2026?
The introduction of the two-generation limit by Decree-Law No. 36/2025 and its confirmation by Law No. 74/2025 marked a significant shift in Italian citizenship law. Here’s what you need to know:
- Two-Generation Limit: As of May 24, 2025, only children and grandchildren of Italian citizens are eligible for automatic citizenship by descent. This means that great-grandchildren and more distant descendants are no longer eligible under the automatic route unless they meet additional requirements.
- Non-Retroactivity Rule: The new rules apply exclusively to applications submitted after March 27, 2025. If you submitted your application before this date, your case will be processed under the previous, more generous rules, which allowed for unlimited generational transmission.
- Constitutional Court Confirmation: The Constitutional Court upheld the validity of Decree-Law No. 36/2025, confirming that there is no constitutional right to unlimited transmission of citizenship by descent.
Summary:
If you applied before March 27, 2025, you may still benefit from the old rules. If you are applying now or in the future, you must meet the stricter two-generation limit and other requirements.
Glossary of Key Terms
Iure Sanguinis
The Latin term meaning “by right of blood.” In the context of Italian citizenship, it refers to the principle that citizenship is passed down through the bloodline from an Italian ancestor.
Two-Generation Limit
A rule introduced in 2025 that restricts automatic Italian citizenship by descent to only two generations (children and grandchildren) from the original Italian citizen ancestor.
Naturalization
The process by which a person acquires citizenship of another country. If an Italian ancestor naturalized in another country before the birth of their child in the lineage, the right to transmit Italian citizenship is interrupted.
Minor Issue
A legal concept referring to the situation where an Italian ancestor naturalized in another country while their next-in-line child was still a minor. This can affect eligibility for citizenship by descent.
Transition to Case Details
With this legal context in mind, we can now examine the specific court case that has shaped the current landscape for Italian citizenship by descent in 2026. The following section details the facts and significance of Cassazione 13818/2026, which has provided new hope for many applicants affected by the recent reforms.
The Case Behind the Italian Citizenship by Descent Ruling: A Family Blocked at the Consulate
Understanding why this judgment carries such weight requires a brief look at the facts that gave rise to it. The applicants were descendants of an Italian citizen: those Italiana ancestors emigrated to Colombia, lived there without ever renouncing Italian citizenship or naturalising as Colombian, and died as an Italian national. Under the traditional interpretation of the iure sanguinis principle, those descendants had an automatic, inherited right to Italian citizenship recognition from their Italian ancestors.
The family attempted, repeatedly and over an extended period, to schedule an appointment at the Italian Embassy in Bogotá to file their Italian Citizenship application through the standard administrative route. The embassy had posted a notice making clear that it could not set appointment dates for citizenship proceedings — blaming residual COVID-19 backlogs, administrative overload, and infrastructure limitations. After years of being turned away at the bureaucratic gate, the applicants took the matter before the Italian courts, arguing that the consulate’s systematic failure to provide any appointment amounted to a de facto denial of their constitutional right.
The case wound its way through the Italian court system and arrived before the Court of Cassation, which issued its decision following a hearing on 4 March 2026, with the judgment published on 12 May 2026 as R.G.N. 01944/2025.
What the Court Actually Held: Two Principles of Fundamental Importance
Supreme Court of Cassazione 13818/2026 makes two findings, each of which is, on its own, extraordinarily significant. Together, they represent a decisive judicial response to the post-reform uncertainty created by the 2025 Italian citizenship law changes and their impact.
First Holding: Italian Citizenship by Descent Is a Permanent and Imprescriptible Right
The Court of Cassation defined the right to Italian citizenship by descent in terms that leave no room for ambiguity. According to the ruling, Italian citizenship transmitted through lineage is:
“un diritto soggettivo assoluto di primaria rilevanza costituzionale, esistente dal momento della nascita del titolare, che ha natura permanente ed imprescrittibile”
In plain English: Italian Citizenship is an absolute subjective right of primary constitutional significance, existing from the moment of the holder’s birth, permanent and imprescriptible by nature. This holding now operates alongside the Constitutional Court’s confirmation of Decree-Law No. 36/2025, a decree law whose constitutional legitimacy was upheld and which makes clear there is no constitutional right to unlimited transmission across generational limits.
This language appears twice in the judgment — a deliberate drafting choice that signals the Court’s intention to embed this characterisation as a fixed interpretive principle. The formulation draws directly on the reasoning of the Joint Divisions (Sezioni Unite) of the Cassazione in their landmark judgments of 2022 (SS.UU. nn. 25317 and 25318/2022), which had already established that Italian citizenship by descent was not a mere administrative concession but a pre-existing status that the Italian state is obliged to recognise, not to grant — a principle that also underpins complex Italian citizenship by descent and 1948 cases. Judgment 13818/2026 reaffirms and deepens that precedent.
Second Holding: Consular Impediments Are Sufficient Legal Grounds to Go Directly to Court to claim Italian Citizenship by descent
The second holding addresses the procedural question of interesse ad agire — the legal interest required to bring an action before a civil court. This is where the ruling has immediate, practical consequences for thousands of current applicants.
Traditionally, courts had required applicants to exhaust the administrative route — i.e., to present their citizenship claim to the italian consulate first — before being entitled to judicial relief. The Ministry of the Interior had argued, in this and other proceedings, that applicants who had not formally completed the consular process lacked the standing to sue.
The Court of Cassation rejected that argument categorically. It held that the interest to sue exists:
“non solo nei casi di diniego o ritardo nel riconoscimento di tale status, ma anche in caso di impedimenti, difficoltà o ritardi che non consentano neppure la presentazione della relativa domanda all’amministrazione competente”
In other words: the right to go to court exists not only when the consulate has formally refused or delayed recognition, but also in all cases where consular impediments, difficulties, or waiting lists have prevented applicants from even submitting their request in the first place or from being able to apply for Italian citizenship administratively.
This is a ruling of enormous practical significance. If you tried to book a consular appointment and were told none were available — whether in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Toronto, New York, or anywhere else — the Supreme Court of Italy has now said that situation alone is legally sufficient to establish your standing to apply for Italian citizenship through a judicial route when the barrier arose at the local Italian consulate.
Contact us
Need help with your Italian Citizenship by descent ? Contact us.
Why This Matters More Than Corte Costituzionale 63/2026: Understanding the Italian Court Hierarchy
Many applicants and their families — understandably shaken by the Constitutional Court’s April 2026 decision — have asked whether Cassazione 13818/2026 can really make a practical difference. To answer that question, it is essential to understand how these two courts function in the Italian legal system, because they do fundamentally different things.
The Constitutional Court: It Rules on What Laws Are Valid, Not on How They Are Applied
The Corte Costituzionale is Italy’s constitutional review body. Its role is to assess whether particular statutory provisions are compatible with the Italian Constitution. When it upholds a decree law later converted into law — as it did with Law No. 74/2025 in Judgment 63/2026 — it is saying that the law does not violate the Constitution. It is not saying anything about how courts should interpret existing legal standards, how the statute interacts with prior rights, or how the rules should apply to specific fact patterns that arose before the law came into force.
Critically, the Constitutional Court does not issue interpretive precedent that binds ordinary civil courts in the way the Court of Cassation does. Its decisions strike down — or uphold — statutory provisions. They do not generate the operational legal framework within which Italian civil judges work day to day.
The Court of Cassation: It Sets the Interpretive Law That Judges Actually Follow
The Corte di Cassazione is Italy’s highest civil court. Its purpose — and this is fundamental — is to ensure the uniform, correct interpretation and application of the law throughout the Italian judiciary. The law introduced by Decree-Law No. 36/2025 imposed a new two-generation limit on automatic acquisition of citizenship by descent. When the Cassazione issues a ruling, particularly through its Sezioni Unite (Joint Divisions) or in a decision that explicitly reaffirms and develops prior Sezioni Unite principles, it is creating the interpretive framework within which every first-instance court, every court of appeal, and every specialised immigration section in Italy must operate.
Italian procedural law (art. 360 c.p.c.) builds an entire system of judicial review around the principle that divergence from Cassazione precedent is itself a ground of appeal. In practice, a judge in Naples, Trieste, Genoa, or Rome who wishes to decide a citizenship case must look at what the Cassazione has said the law means — not merely at what the Constitutional Court has said about constitutional validity.
The distinction is not academic. It is the operational reality of Italian civil litigation.
The Practical Consequence: Courts Apply the Italian Citizenship Cassazione Framework
What this means in concrete terms is that when a citizenship applicant comes before an Italian civil court with a properly documented judicial petition — supported by evidence of Italian ancestry, the ancestor’s retention of Italian citizenship, the unbroken transmission of status through the lineage, and documentation of consular impediments — the judge adjudicating that case will reach for the interpretive framework established by the Court of Cassation.
That framework, reinforced by Judgment 13818/2026, says: citizenship by descent is a permanent, imprescriptible right that exists from birth; and consular failure to provide appointments gives rise to the legal interest needed to bring a judicial claim. Those are the operative legal standards for Italian civil courts.
Unless and until the Sezioni Unite of the Cassazione issues a contrary ruling — and as of this writing, the Joint Divisions are actually being called upon to resolve the tension between the two courts, with proceedings already under way — every Italian civil court has clear, authoritative guidance pointing toward the applicant for Italian Citizenship by descent.
Contact us
Need help with your Italian Citizenship by descent ? Contact us.
The Documentation That Now Makes All the Difference
Cassazione 13818/2026 does not open a blanket path to Italian Citizenship for every descendant regardless of circumstances. What it does is identify a specific, legally cognisable harm — the consular impediment — that bridges the gap between the administrative route and the judicial route. And it is that documented impediment that becomes the cornerstone of any post-reform judicial strategy.
Types of Acceptable Documentation
Here is what this means in practice.
The most valuable documentation you can now hold is any record showing that you attempted, and were prevented, from booking a consular appointment before the entry into force of Law 74/2025. This includes:
- Screenshots or PDFs of online booking attempts showing no available slots
- Email correspondence with the Italian consulate or embassy requesting Italian citizenship appointments
- Official embassy or consulate notices posted on their websites stating that no appointments were being scheduled
- Letters or form responses received from consular offices acknowledging the impossibility of scheduling
- Records from services and platforms used to monitor consulate booking availability
- Sworn declarations by individuals who witnessed or participated in the booking attempts
Under the principles now confirmed by Cassazione 13818/2026, each of these pieces of evidence supports the argument that the bureaucratic obstruction — not any lack of diligence on your part — prevented you from initiating the administrative procedure before the reform took effect.
Why the “Lack of Appointment” Doctrine Is Now More Important Than Ever
At Studio Legale Bersani & Partners, we have litigated and won citizenship cases before Italian courts on the basis of what we call the “lack of appointment” doctrine — the legal theory that documented inability to secure a consular appointment constitutes a valid, legally sufficient reason to bring a judicial citizenship proceeding and, where applicable, to argue that the pre-reform rules must continue to govern your case.
Proper legal analysis is essential for assessing the applicable eligibility rules and avoiding incomplete documentation or missed deadlines that could jeopardize obtaining recognition under the previous system. Ongoing judicial interpretations also make timely legal advice especially important in these cases.
The Supreme Court’s reasoning in 13818/2026 directly validates and amplifies this doctrine. The Court explicitly states that impediments preventing even the submission of a Italian Citizenship request to the competent administration generate the uncertainty of status that justifies judicial action. This is not a workaround or a creative legal argument. It is now a holding of Italy’s highest civil court.
The Italian Citizenship Non-Retroactivity Principle
A complementary argument, consistently advanced by our firm in pleadings before multiple Italian courts, concerns the non-retroactivity of Law 74/2025 under art. 11 of the Italian Preleggi (general provisions prefacing the Civil Code). This principle holds that new legislation cannot, absent an express provision to the contrary, extinguish rights that had already arisen or proceedings that had already commenced under prior law.
Combined with the Cassazione’s reaffirmation that the right to Italian Citizenship exists from birth and is permanent and imprescriptible, the non-retroactivity argument provides a powerful doctrinal basis for claiming that the pre-reform rules continue to govern any case in which the applicant’s right had crystallised and the process had, in any meaningful sense, been initiated through applications submitted before 27 March 2025, while later applications submitted are subject to the new regime. Documented consular appointment attempts are central to establishing that prior initiation.
A Note on the Sezioni Unite Proceedings Now Under Way
It would not be honest to present this situation without acknowledging the degree of uncertainty that remains. The Joint Divisions of the Court of Cassation have been formally referred questions relating directly to the fundamental tension between the Cassazione’s interpretation of citizenship as a permanent, birth-existing right and the Constitutional Court’s more restrictive position. Those proceedings are expected to generate a landmark ruling that will bind all Italian courts.
What is important to understand is that, until such a ruling is issued, the operative interpretive standard for Italian civil courts remains the one most recently and emphatically confirmed by the Cassazione — including in Judgment 13818/2026. Courts in Naples, Venice, Brescia, and elsewhere have already issued favourable citizenship decisions in the weeks following the ruling. The legal momentum, for now, is clearly in the direction the Cassazione has charted.
Our firm monitors these proceedings in real time and maintains contact with the evolving jurisprudence across all Italian jurisdictions where we litigate. Whatever direction the Sezioni Unite ultimately takes, we will be positioned to adapt and deploy the most effective legal strategy available for our clients.
Your Window: Why You Should Act Now, With the Right Documentation
The legal situation described in this article creates a window — not an indefinite one, but a real and present one — for descendants of Italian citizens to pursue judicial recognition of their citizenship status, even if they were unable to complete the administrative route before the Tajani Decree took effect, making it essential to follow ongoing Italian citizenship law news and updates.
As of 2026, adult applications from applicants residing abroad are being centralized through the italian ministry in Rome after a transition period, which makes prompt evidence preservation even more important.
That window depends on two things: the quality of your documentation, and the quality of your legal representation.
Importance of Timely Evidence Collection
If you have documentation of failed or blocked consular appointment attempts for Italian Dual Citizenship , you already hold one of the most valuable assets in this litigation environment. The Supreme Court has now told Italian civil judges that this exact situation is legally sufficient to establish your standing to sue.
If you have not yet gathered that documentation, or if you are uncertain whether what you have is sufficient, now is the time to act. Memories fade, email accounts get deleted, and consular booking platforms change. Every day that passes without a systematic effort to preserve and organise your evidence is a day that weakens your eventual legal position.
Why Studio Legale Bersani & Partners
Studio Legale Bersani & Partners, based in Verona and active before courts throughout Italy, is one of the most experienced Italian citizenship law firms in Italy dedicated exclusively to Italian citizenship by descent cases. Our managing partner, Avv. Marco Bersani, is admitted to the Italian bar (Ordine degli Avvocati di Verona) and to the Colegio de Abogados de Madrid, and has litigated Italian Dual Citizenship cases before courts in Naples, Trieste, Genoa, Palermo, Rome, Campobasso, Messina, and other jurisdictions.
Our practice is built on direct, adversarial litigation experience — not on consular facilitation or administrative paperwork services. We draft atti di citazione, ricorsi, memorie illustrative, and note scritte in formal Italian legal Italian, submitted before real judges in real proceedings. We have secured victories in 1948 cases (female-line transmission), traditional iure sanguinis cases, and complex cases involving bipolidi, Austro-Hungarian pertinenza questions, and pre-war genealogical lines.
We work with an international partner network — including collaborative partners in Canada and across South America — to provide our clients with seamless support from document retrieval to courtroom judgment.
We do not make promises about outcomes — no ethical lawyer can. But we do bring the full force of our litigation experience, our legal analysis, and our commitment to aggressive, rigorous advocacy to every case we take on.
Schedule Your Consultation Today
If you are a descendant of an Italian born ancestor and Italian citizen and you are wondering whether the door to recognition is still open for you to have Italian Dual Citizenship — the answer, in many cases, is yes. But the analysis requires a careful look at your specific facts: for italian citizenship jure sanguinis and citizenship jure sanguinis screening, we review your ancestor’s history, your generational line, the nature of any consular contacts you have made, and the documentation you hold or can recover, including whether a parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship, whether the italian ancestor naturalized before the child’s birth in the next line and could still pass citizenship, whether the oldest italian ancestor — or any italian born ancestor through whom you claim italian citizenship under jus sanguinis or jure sanguinis — was alive after March 17, 1861, and, as of May 24, 2025, how those rules apply to descendants born abroad and affect acquiring italian citizenship, a jus sanguinis citizenship application, your current citizenship, any dual citizenship or italian dual citizenship issues, and whether children born to an italian parent can still benefit from jus sanguinis.
We offer initial consultations in English for international clients. Our team will assess your situation, identify the legal arguments available to you, and give you an honest picture of your prospects.
Do not wait for the law to settle before moving. The courts are deciding cases now, and the doctrinal momentum from Cassazione 13818/2026 is at its most potent in this immediate period.
How to Schedule a Consultation
Contact Studio Legale Bersani & Partners through our Italian citizenship assistance contacts:
- Website: mbersanilaw.com
- Office: Via Francia 21/c, 37135 Verona (VR), Italy
Italian citizenship is not a bureaucratic concession. It is a right that was yours from the day you were born — and Italy’s Supreme Court has just said so, once again, in terms that every Italian judge is obliged to respect.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information contained herein reflects the state of Italian jurisprudence as of May 2026. Each citizenship case presents unique facts, and results depend on individual circumstances and the evolution of applicable law. Readers should consult a qualified Italian lawyer before taking any legal action.
Contact us
Need help with your Italian Citizenship by descent ? Contact us.