Italian citizenship

The four routes

Route	Core requirement	Where you file
Descent (iure sanguinis)	An Italian ancestor, within the narrow limits introduced in 2025	Consulate, or the municipality if you live in Italy
Residence (naturalisation)	Years of lawful registered residence + language + income	The Interior Ministry's ALI portal
Marriage or civil union	Italian spouse + years of marriage + language	The ALI portal
Birth in Italy	Born in Italy to foreign parents, continuously resident until 18	The municipality, between 18 and 19

Italy allows dual citizenship. Whether you keep the one you already have is up to your own country, not Italy: many let you keep it — Sweden, for example, since 2001 — but some revoke citizenship from anyone who acquires another. Check your country's rules before you apply.

By descent, after the 2025 reform

What changed

The historical principle was simple: a descendant of an Italian citizen is an Italian citizen from birth, with no generational limit, as long as the chain was never broken. That is how millions of descendants of emigrants obtained the passport.

Decree-law 36 of 28 March 2025, converted with amendments into law 74 of 23 May 2025 and in force from 24 May 2025, introduced a generational limit for people born abroad who also hold another citizenship. Automatic recognition remains possible, in substance within two generations, where one of these applies:

• a parent, including an adoptive parent, was born in Italy;
• a grandparent, including an adoptive one, was born in Italy;
• a citizen parent resided in Italy for at least two continuous years before the child's birth or adoption.

Applications documented and filed by 23

(Rome time) on 27 March 2025 continue to be handled under the previous rules.

Where the question stands in 2026

The limit was challenged at once. The Constitutional Court, in judgment 63 of 2026 (decided 11 March, filed 30 April), held the challenges partly unfounded and partly inadmissible: the generational limit stands. Waiting for the rule to be struck down is no longer a plan.

In July 2026, however, the same Court referred a question of interpretation to the Court of Justice of the European Union. A door is therefore ajar, but it is in Luxembourg and it is slow: in the meantime applications are decided under the current rules.

What you need in any case

If you meet the conditions, the case is essentially documentary: you reconstruct the chain with no gaps.

• Birth, marriage and death certificates for every link in the line, in original or full-form copy.
• An apostille on every foreign public act, if the issuing country is party to the Hague Convention; otherwise consular legalisation.
• A sworn translation into Italian of every foreign document.
• Certificates showing that the ancestor had not lost Italian citizenship before the next descendant was born.

Every transcription error — a name changed on arrival in another country, a date that differs between two records — must be fixed first, through a correction in the country that issued the record.

Where to file

• At the consulate covering your residence abroad. This is the ordinary route; waiting lists can be long.
• At the municipality, if you are already registered in the Italian registry. Faster, but it presupposes genuine, verified residence, including the municipal police visit.

By residence (naturalisation)

How many years

Situation	Years of lawful registered residence
EU citizen	4 years
Non-EU citizen	10 years
Refugee or stateless person	5 years
Born in Italy to foreign parents (as an adult)	3 years
Descendant of Italian citizens within the second degree	3 years

For a citizen of an EU country the threshold is therefore four years of proper, continuous registered residence; for someone from outside the EU, ten. "Continuous" means without cancellations: a gap in the registry resets the count.

The other requirements

• Italian at level B1 or above, proven with a recognised certificate or an Italian qualification. Not a formality: it is the requirement that sinks the most applications.
• Sufficient income over the preceding three years, with thresholds that rise if you have dependants.
• No disqualifying convictions and no grounds relating to State security.
• A €250 contribution plus stamp duty.

The application is filed online on the Interior Ministry's ALI portal with SPID or CIE. The case is handled by the Prefecture, which summons you to hand over originals.

By marriage or civil union

The spouse or civil partner of an Italian citizen may apply after:

• 2 years of marriage if resident in Italy;
• 3 years if resident abroad.

Both are halved where the couple has children, born or adopted. You need Italian at level B1, no disqualifying convictions, and the marriage must still stand — separation, divorce or annulment stops the case, even after filing.

A marriage celebrated abroad must first be transcribed into the Italian civil status registers, which requires the usual apostille and sworn translation package.

By birth in Italy

Someone born in Italy to foreign parents is not an Italian citizen at birth. They can become one through a declaration at the municipality between 18 and 19 years of age, if they have been lawfully and continuously resident in Italy from birth to adulthood.

It is a narrow window, easily lost — often because of a period when the parents did not renew the registry entry in time. The municipality is supposed to inform the person at eighteen, but does not always do so.

Children under 18

A minor child living with someone who acquires citizenship acquires it too, with effects formalised before the civil status registrar. The 2025 reform touched this point as well, particularly for children born abroad: if it concerns your family, have it verified rather than assumed.

Common mistakes

• Buying the "guaranteed citizenship" package. Nobody can guarantee it, and since 2025 many online offers describe requirements that no longer exist.
• Collecting documents before checking eligibility. Apostilles and sworn translations cost money; verify the line first.
• Letting a gap open in your registered residence during the years counting towards naturalisation.
• Putting off the B1 certificate. It is the bottleneck: take it while the other documents mature.
• Forgetting to transcribe the marriage before filing a spousal application.