Can You Lose Italian Citizenship by Descent? The Foundation: United Sections Judgments Nos. 25317 and 25318 of 2022

Introduction

This article is intended for individuals and families seeking to understand the legal grounds for losing Italian citizenship by descent, especially those navigating recognition claims. Understanding these principles is crucial for anyone whose citizenship status may be questioned due to family history or administrative decisions. The focus here is on the legal grounds for loss of Italian citizenship by descent, with particular attention to the foundational judgments of the United Sections Nos. 25317 and 25318 of 2022, which continue to shape the field.

Key Concepts: Loss of Italian Citizenship by Descent

The main circumstances for losing Italian citizenship by descent involve specific legal actions or historical rules. Italian authorities state that loss of citizenship can be automatic or through formal renunciation.

• Loss by Renunciation: Occurs when an individual voluntarily and explicitly declares their intention to renounce Italian citizenship, typically through a formal declaration at a consulate.
• Loss by Interruption of Transmission: Can occur automatically due to historical rules, such as an ancestor’s voluntary naturalization before August 15, 1992, or other specific legal events that break the chain of citizenship transmission.

Summary: Main Legal Grounds for Loss of Italian Citizenship by Descent

• Voluntary Renunciation: Requires a formal declaration at an Italian consulate.
• Ancestor’s Voluntary Naturalization Before August 15, 1992: Automatic loss of citizenship, which can break the chain of transmission.
• Voluntary Enlistment in a Foreign Army: May result in automatic loss.
• Acquisition of Enemy State Citizenship During Wartime: Can trigger automatic loss.
• Acceptance of Prohibited Foreign Public Office: Loss may occur if an ancestor accepted public office in a foreign state against Italian government prohibition.
• Fraudulent Documents or Misrepresentation: Citizenship can be revoked if obtained fraudulently.
• Failure to Meet Legal Requirements: Loss or denial may occur if the requirements for citizenship by descent were not met.
• Renunciation Before Child’s Birth: The chain can break if an ancestor renounced citizenship before the next generation’s birth.
• Naturalization Before Next Generation’s Birth: Transmission can be interrupted if the ancestor naturalized before the child was born.
• Post-1992 Naturalization: Italian law permits acquiring another nationality without losing citizenship after August 16, 1992.
• Living Abroad or Dual Citizenship: Italian citizenship by descent is not usually lost simply by living abroad or obtaining another citizenship; dual or multiple citizenships are generally allowed.
• Minors: A minor typically does not lose Italian citizenship if a parent loses theirs, unless certain conditions apply.

Why These Two Judgments Come First

Almost every argument that wins an Italian citizenship case today rests on two judgments handed down on the same day, 24 August 2022.

If you are asking can you lose Italian citizenship by descent, the short answer is no—not through tacit renunciation, delay, foreign naturalization in the family line, or mere conduct. Under the legal framework these decisions confirm, loss of Italian citizenship by descent requires a voluntary and explicit renunciation, which is why these rulings matter so much to individuals and families pursuing recognition of jure sanguinis citizenship, especially where a consulate, municipality, or lower court has raised renunciation or interruption-of-transmission claims.

They are the decisions the Joint Sections declared they were continuing “totally” when they resolved the “minor issue” in 2026. They are the decisions the Constitutional Court endorsed in judgment no. 63/2026. They are the reason a court that recognises citizenship is understood to be declaring a status rather than granting one — and that single distinction is carrying most of the weight in post-reform litigation.

Importance of the Judgments

• These judgments clarify the legal principles governing loss of citizenship by descent.
• They provide a foundation for challenging administrative or judicial refusals based on presumed loss or interruption.
• They are frequently cited in both Brazilian and non-Brazilian cases.

The Question Before the Court

Both cases came out of the same historical event. In 1889 Brazil issued a mass naturalisation decree — the grande naturalizzazione — extending Brazilian citizenship to foreign residents. Italians who had emigrated to Brazil in the late nineteenth century fell within its scope.

Lower Court Reasoning

• Descendants of those emigrants sought recognition of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis.
• The lower courts refused, reasoning that the ancestor, by remaining in Brazil and not objecting to the decree, had tacitly accepted Brazilian citizenship and thereby renounced Italian citizenship — breaking the chain of transmission.
• In the case behind judgment no. 25318/2022, a second ground was added: the emigrant’s son had lost Italian citizenship by accepting employment with a foreign government without Italian authorisation.

Legal Question

• Whether acquired Italian citizenship can be lost by conduct from which a renunciation is inferred, rather than by a renunciation actually made.
• Whether a valid voluntary renunciation required a formal declaration at a consulate.
• Whether automatic loss could occur in cases of voluntary enlistment in a foreign army or acquisition of the citizenship of an enemy state in wartime.

What the Court Decided

Permanence of Status

• Permanent and Imprescriptible: Citizenship acquired iure sanguinis at birth has, in the Court’s words, “natura permanente, imprescrittibile e giustiziabile in ogni tempo” — a permanent and imprescriptible character, enforceable in court at any time. It does not lapse, it is not extinguished by the passage of generations, and no limitation period runs against it.

Burden of Proof

• Applicant’s Burden is Narrow: “Chi richiede il riconoscimento della cittadinanza deve provare solo il fatto acquisitivo e la linea di trasmissione” — whoever seeks recognition must prove only the acquisitive fact and the line of transmission. It is for the party contesting the claim to prove an interrupting cause.
• Dual or Multiple Citizenship: Italian citizens are generally permitted to hold dual or multiple citizenships, so another passport or nationality is not, by itself, proof of loss.

Renunciation Requirements

• Voluntary and Explicit Renunciation: “La rinuncia alla cittadinanza deve essere volontaria ed esplicita.” Tacit renunciation is excluded. Conduct that might suggest an intention is not enough, however long it continued. Simply acquiring another nationality after 16 August 1992 does not amount to renunciation.

Impact of Brazilian Decree

• No Automatic Loss: The mass naturalisation decree did not automatically confer Brazilian citizenship: a further voluntary manifestation was required — registering to vote, for instance. Residence abroad, combined with a failure to object to the decree, was therefore insufficient to prove a renunciation of Italian citizenship.

Foreign Public Employment

• Narrow Reading: The loss contemplated by Article 8 of Law no. 555/1912 applies only to positions with a governmental character — those implying a relationship of hierarchy and an obligation of loyalty to the foreign State — not to employment abroad as such.
• Fraudulent Documents or Misrepresentation: Loss or revocation can still arise in distinct cases, including citizenship obtained through fraudulent documents or misrepresentation.

The Reasoning, and Why It Reaches Beyond Brazil

Declaratory vs. Constitutive Recognition

• The Court treated citizenship as a fundamental status rather than an administrative entitlement.
• Recognition is declaratory, not constitutive:
  • If the status arises at birth by operation of law, then the consulate that processes a file and the tribunal that issues a judgment are doing the same thing: recording something that already exists. Neither brings it into being.
  • This is the language the Constitutional Court adopted in 2026 — meramente dichiarativo e non costitutivo.

Continuity of Citizenship

• Continuity is the default:
  • A status that is permanent and imprescriptible does not have to be maintained, renewed or asserted within any period.
  • An administration or a defending party that says the line broke must prove the specific act that broke it.

Narrow Construction of Loss Provisions

• Provisions on loss are construed narrowly:
  • Because the interest is a fundamental one, rules that take citizenship away get a narrow reading.
  • The same approach now informs debates over who remains eligible under the new rules effective from 28 March 2025, which require an effective connection to Italy.
  • The Joint Sections applied this again in 2026, holding that Article 12 of the same 1912 law could not be stretched to cover a child who had been a dual citizen from birth.

What It Means for Italian Citizenship Applicants in a Similar Position

Mass Naturalisation Cases

• Lines running through a country with mass or automatic naturalisation:
  • Brazil’s 1889 decree is the paradigm, and the reasoning is transferable: what matters is whether the individual did something voluntary and express, not whether a foreign law swept them up.

Generational Limits

• Anyone told their claim is too old or too many generations back:
  • Imprescriptibility means what it says: the number of generations does not by itself extinguish a status acquired at birth.
  • What limits a claim is the substantive law governing each transmission — and, for applications and proceedings from 27 March 2025, the generational limit introduced by Law no. 74/2025.
  • That includes the law in force at each step for descendants, including the historical rule that women could not transmit citizenship before 1948, which can affect some lines involving children.

Refusals Based on Inference

• Anyone whose file was refused on an inference:
  • A refusal reasoning that an ancestor “must have” renounced, or “in effect” abandoned Italian citizenship, argues from precisely the reasoning these judgments rejected.
  • So does one that treats long residence abroad as decisive on its own.
  • Practical waiting at consulates does not change the underlying status, even though recognition applications can take years to process, sometimes up to 10 years, and some waiting lists stretch toward a decade.

Foreign Public Employment Cases

How This Fits the Wider Case Law

Read 2022 as the foundation and everything since as construction on top of it.

Recent Developments and Procedures

• Judgment no. 24045/2026: Applied the restrictive-construction principle to Articles 7 and 12 of the 1912 law, and expressly placed itself in continuity with these decisions.
• Constitutional Court judgment no. 63/2026: Endorsed the declaratory characterisation while ruling on Article 3-bis.
• Ordinance no. 13818/2026: Drew on permanence and imprescriptibility to hold that an applicant blocked by consular inaction may go directly to court, the delay not being attributable to them.

Reacquisition Under Law 74/2025: Step-by-Step

1. Citizenship reacquisition is permitted until 31 December 2027.
2. Applications may be filed through Italian consulates abroad as a distinct process from judicial recognition.
3. The process requires establishing legal residency in Italy within one year.
4. No language test is required.

• The judicial route should be distinguished from the separate legal pathways for reacquisition introduced by Law 74/2025.
• The same line of reasoning underlies the argument now being made for claims filed after the reform: that a person born before 27 March 2025 already held the status, and that what they ask a court for is a declaration of it. That argument is being tested, not established. But it starts here.

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Disclaimer. This article provides general information about published judicial decisions and does not constitute legal advice. Whether these principles assist a particular claim depends on its facts, its documentary record and the law applicable to each transmission in the line.

Written by Marco Bersani, Avvocato (Bar of Verona), Abogado ejerciente (Bar of Madrid), founding partner of Bersani Law Firm & Partners, Verona.