Judical Procedure
This is a special procedure for years instituted exclusively before the Ordinary Court of Rome which, as mentioned, turns out to be the only remedy available in favor of descendants of Italian ancestors belonging to the maternal line residing in Italy or abroad.
In this regard, it should be noted that, as of June 22, 2022, following the introduction of Law-Reform of the Civil Process No. 206 of Nov. 26, 2021, it is now stipulated that “When the petitioner resides abroad, disputes to verify the status of Italian citizenship shall be assigned having regard to the municipality of birth of the father, mother or ancestor who are (or were) Italian citizens.” This means that today, unlike in past years, the Court of Rome alone will no longer have jurisdiction, but the court in whose district the last Italian ancestor was born, or if the claimant resides in Italy (case of maternal line), he or she will have to apply to the court with territorial jurisdiction based on his or her residence.
Having clarified this, it should be pointed out that, also with reference to this type of appeal, it is a prerequisite to have all the documentation attesting to descent from the Italian ancestor, which will be submitted to the evaluation of the judge hearing the case.
The latter, if the appeal is upheld, will declare, by an ordinance, that the appellant has been an Italian citizen since birth and will order the administration to carry out the necessary fulfillment (registrations, transcriptions and annotations required by law).
So the judgment will have as its object the reconstruction of descent from Italian ancestors by maternal line on the basis of the party’s documentation attached to the appeal just as it is done administratively at the Consulates or Municipalities of residence. Therefore, the judge makes the same determinations regarding the applicant’s possession of Italian citizenship iure sanguinis as it is done administratively (Consulates or the municipalities of residence).
This procedure is particularly rapid since in the forms of the simplified proceeding, which, as is well known, is resolved within a very few hearings.
In order to institute the aforementioned proceeding the interested party is not required to reside or otherwise be present in Italy since he can normally reside abroad. Therefore, he or she will only have to grant powers of representation, by means of attorney, to our Italian lawyers in order to be defended and represented in the citizenship recognition process at the outcome of which he or she will be declared an Italian citizen.