Two US families went to Italy’s highest court on Tuesday to challenge the limits imposed by Giorgia Meloni’s government on claiming citizenship via ancestry.
Their lawyer, Marco Mellone, argued before the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) that the change should apply only to people born after it took effect.
Mellone told The Local he was “confident” of a positive outcome “because descendants of Italian emigrants have always been considered Italian citizens at birth, and no subsequent law or administrative decision may affect such a right at birth."
The change, which was imposed abruptly by decree in March 2025, cut off great-grandchildren and more distant descendants from eligibility, limiting claims to those with a parent or grandparent born in Italy.
Previously, anyone who could prove an unbroken line of descent from an Italian citizen going back to the unification of Italy in 1861 could claim citizenship.
