Italian citizenship to those with ancestors born before 1861
Italy was established as a nation only on March 17, 1861. Who can be entitled to citizenship if it has ancestors born before 1861?
In 1860, with the informal backing of the King of Sardinia and the initial support of only 1,000 volunteers (the solo called “Red Shirts” for the colour of their uniforms), Garibaldi’s army conquered Sicily and Naples. After his victory, he held plebiscites in the conquered territories, which allowed him to hand over the whole of southern Italy to King Victor Emmanuel. At the same time, also other Italian territories (Ducato di Toscana, Ducato di Parma, Marche, Umbria) held plebiscites to join the Kingdom of Sardinia and the new Kingdom of Italy was officially established on March 17, 1861.
Who can be considered “Italian”?
The issue of Italian citizenship was defined only with the approval of the 1865 Civil Code, which adopted the ius sanguinis principle, stating that:
“A citizen is the child of a father who is a citizen”
Italian citizenship was automatically extended to all individuals born in the territories which were annexed or have adhered to the new Kingdom. This principle was attenuated through some concessions to ius soli or to the mother’s citizenship in some specific cases.
Italian citizenship has no generational limits
Italian law has no limits in the number of generattions but in order to be entitled to acquire citizenship, the applicant must have an Italian ancestor. As noted above, Italian citizenship was formally recognized only starting from 1861 and acquired automatically to all individuals born in the territories which were annexed or have adhered to the new Kingdom of Italy.
How to obtain citizenship with an Italian ancestor born before 1861
To prove your right to Italian citizenship it is necessary that your ancestor was or has been an Italian citizen for a certain period of his life. Therefore, it is required to:
(i) obtain a death certificate proving ancestor’s death occurred after 1861 (1866 if the ancestor was born in the Veneto and north-eastern regions, and 1920 if the ancestor is from Trieste, Istria and Dalmatia); and
(ii) a certificate confirming that the ancestor did not acquire a foreign citizenship before July 1, 1912.
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