Italy’s Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) has scheduled a landmark hearing for January 13, 2026, in Rome, where the United Sections, the Court’s highest chamber, will decide a citizenship dispute that could reshape the future of Italian citizenship by descent.
According to a statement released by attorney Marco Mellone on October 14, 2025, an expert on jure sanguinis claims who represents two Italian-American families, the justices will examine whether Italy’s 2025 citizenship law can be applied retroactively and whether children who lost citizenship when a parent naturalized abroad can have it restored. The outcome could affect thousands of applicants worldwide seeking recognition of their Italian heritage.
“The United Sections will decide whether the new rules on citizenship, which introduce significant restrictions on the recognition of Italian citizenship by descent, shall be applied retroactively – for instance, to those who are already citizens or whose applications were filed before the law came into force.”— Mellone Law Firm statement, October 14, 2025
For decades, citizenship jure sanguinis (“by right of blood”) allowed many descendants of Italian emigrants to claim citizenship through an ancestral line, although historic legal exceptions sometimes blocked transmission.
This long-standing process changed in March 2025, when the government issued Decree No. 36/2025, later approved in May by Parliament as Law No. 74/2025. The reform limited eligibility to two generations, typically parents and grandparents who had not naturalized, raised evidentiary standards, and set March 29, 2025, as the cutoff date for applications under the previous rules.
The March decree stunned thousands of applicants worldwide by setting a hard deadline for anyone seeking recognition through the previous jure sanguinis process, whether by booking a consulate appointment or filing a 1948 case in court.
The upcoming Supreme Court hearing will clarify both the retroactivity of these restrictions and the validity of the “minor loss” rule from Law 555/1912, which historically stripped minors of citizenship when a parent naturalized abroad. A decision in favor of the plaintiffs could reopen countless family lines and reaffirm the right to Italian citizenship for descendants across the United States and beyond.
Meanwhile, a separate government proposal is also stirring debate among Italians abroad. On October 14, 2025, the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill (still pending final approval) that would overhaul how citizenship applications from abroad are processed. Under the proposal, all applications would be centralized in a single office in Rome, replacing the current consular-based system and extending the legal processing time from two to four years.
Christian Di Sanzo, a deputy representing Italians in North and Central America, criticized the measure as “another attack by Prime Minister Meloni on Italians abroad,” arguing that it would make the process “longer and more complicated.” If enacted, the reform would mean that applications could only be submitted by mail to Rome, rather than through local consulates, a major procedural shift that could affect citizenship seekers worldwide.
Want to learn more about Italian citizenship by descent and how you might qualify? Become a Dream of Italy Member to receive access to our January 2026 Virtual Workshop How to Move to Italy where our trusted expert attorney Nick Metta will discuss citizenship, visas, taxes and other legal issues related to moving to Italy. Join here!
— Irene Speretta
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