By Lucrecia Cucchiaro, Argentine lawyer specializing in Italian citizenship law. Associate of Kairós LBC, an Italian law firm with offices in Milan and Rome, where she heads the Department of Italian Citizenship and Immigration.
Short answer: yes, there is a path, and a small number of Italian courts have already accepted it. It is a minority position. But it is not settled case law, and no honest lawyer can guarantee the outcome.
What changed in 2025
Decree-Law 36/2025, converted into Law 74/2025, added Article 3-bis to Italy’s citizenship law (Law 91/1992). It provides that a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is deemed never to have acquired Italian citizenship. Through the administrative route (consulate or comune), recognition is now limited to people with an Italian parent or grandparent. Great-grandchildren and later generations are left out.
There are exceptions. Exception a-bis) protects anyone who had a consular appointment communicated before 11:59 p.m. (Rome time) on 27 March 2025.
That is where the opening is. For years, many people tried to book that appointment and the system never gave it to them. Not because they did nothing, but because the consulate did not open its calendar. Many Italian-Americans know this from the long waiting lists at the Italian consulates in the United States.
The interpretation some courts have accepted: a documented attempt to book an appointment counts as if the appointment had been obtained. Whoever falls under exception a-bis) is outside the generational limit, and the old rules apply, with no cap on generations. If it succeeds, a great-grandchild keeps the right.
What the Constitutional Court said (and what it did not)
Judgment no. 63/2026 (filed 30 April 2026) rejected the constitutional challenge raised by the Court of Turin. The reform is constitutional, including its retroactive application. That round was lost.
But the Court left a door open, explicitly. It noted that the difference between those who received an appointment and those who started the process but did not receive one before 11:59 p.m. on 27 March 2025 remains unresolved. It did not rule on it because it was not part of the case before it.
That paragraph is now the center of the debate. The Court did not say that the attempt is worthless. It said it did not assess it. The reasoning behind the broader interpretation is simple: the law rewards the applicant’s active conduct, not the outcome of a bureaucratic process whose timing depends on the administration.
Courts that have already accepted it
| Court | Date | What was proven |
|---|---|---|
| Palermo (Immigration Section) | 13 Feb 2026 | Attempts on Prenot@mi at the Buenos Aires consulate, plus a formal message to the consulate before 27 March 2025 |
| Naples (13th Civil Section, RG 7143/2025) | 28 May 2026 | Attempts on Prenot@mi at the Morón consulate since 24 December 2024 |
| Florence (Immigration Section, no. 4122/2025 RGCC) | 22 Jun 2026 | Repeated booking attempts before 27 March 2025 |
In Naples and Florence, the lawsuits were filed on 28 March 2025, one day after the cut-off. Both succeeded anyway, on the basis of the attempts.
Costs differ. In Florence, the court ordered the Ministry of the Interior to pay legal costs: if the State’s inefficiency forced the lawsuit, the applicant should not pay for it. In Naples and Palermo, costs were offset: the applicants won and still paid for their own case.
The warning you need to read
This is not settled case law. These are first-instance decisions, from a small number of courts, interpreting a new rule in ways no higher court has unified yet. The Court of Cassation has not ruled on this point.
And one fact proves it better than any analysis: the same judge who issued the favorable Palermo decision had rejected similar requests a few days earlier. The law did not change. The court did not change. The judge did not change. The evidence each group brought did.
That is where everything is decided: not in the argument, which is already written and you have just read it, but in whether the file you put on the table is enough. Anyone who promises you a result with this argument is selling something they do not have.
How it is argued in practice
- Main claim: broad interpretation of Article 3-bis, exception a-bis), so that the booking attempt is treated as an appointment obtained.
- Alternative claim: unconstitutionality of the rule.
The order matters. After judgment 63/2026, leading with unconstitutionality means going straight against a recent, unfavorable ruling. The broad interpretation works within the space the Court itself left open.
You do not need to exhaust the administrative route first
The Ministry’s classic objection: “they never requested an appointment at the consulate, so they have no standing to sue.” The Court of Cassation, First Civil Section, order no. 13818/2026 (published 12 May 2026), held that there is standing to sue not only when recognition is denied or delayed, but also when obstacles or delays prevent the application from being filed at all.
In plain terms: if the consulate would not even let you book, that is not your problem. It is your argument.
What you need to prove
On the attempt, which is what decides the case today:
- Dated screenshots of your attempts on Prenot@mi or the consulate’s booking system
- Emails to the consulate and the lack of a reply
- All dated before 27 March 2025. The earlier, the better.
On the bloodline, as always:
- An Italian ancestor born after 17 March 1861
- An unbroken chain: no ancestor naturalized or renounced before the birth of the next person in the line
- A certificate of non-naturalization (for U.S. ancestors, the USCIS records search)
- Everything translated and apostilled
The questions this page cannot answer
There are four questions that can only be answered by looking at your file:
- Are your attempts enough? Three loose screenshots are not the same as eighteen months of attempts with unanswered emails.
- What if you have no screenshots? That is most people’s situation. There are other ways to prove active conduct, but not all of them work in every court.
- Where is the case filed? You do not choose: it depends on your Italian ancestor’s comune of birth. That court already has its own approach.
- Does your line hold? If your ancestor naturalized as a U.S. citizen before the next person in the line was born, the chain may be broken, and the booking argument will not fix it.
If you want us to look at your case
The first call is free and serves one purpose: to find out whether you have a case. If you do not, I will tell you then. I would rather lose a consultation than have you lose a lawsuit.
Last updated: October 2026. This analysis reflects case law as of that date. The area is moving: higher courts may unify the criteria at any time, in either direction. This page is general information, not legal advice for your specific case.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for Italian citizenship as a great-grandchild in 2026? Not through a consulate or comune: Article 3-bis limits administrative recognition to people with an Italian parent or grandparent. Through the courts, there is a possible exception if you can prove you tried to book a consular appointment before 27 March 2025. Some courts have accepted it. It is a minority position and it is not settled.
Was the reform declared unconstitutional? No. In judgment no. 63/2026 (filed 30 April 2026), the Constitutional Court upheld it, including its retroactive effect.
Does it help that I tried to book an appointment but never got one? That is exactly the argument. A documented attempt before 27 March 2025 is what the favorable decisions relied on.
Do I have to travel to Italy? No. These cases follow a simplified written procedure. In cases published in 2025 and 2026, first-instance decisions took between ten and fifteen months. That is not a guaranteed timeframe.
My ancestor became a U.S. citizen. Does that break the line? It depends on when. If the naturalization came after the birth of the next person in the line, the chain is not broken. The date on the naturalization certificate is what matters.
How do I start? Book a free call. We will tell you whether your file has what it needs.
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