Four Italian Courts Ask the Constitutional Court: Is Unlimited Citizenship by Descent Constitutional?

In a coordinated wave of referrals, four Italian courts have asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether Italy’s system of unlimited citizenship by descent violates the Constitution. The referrals from Bologna, Milan, Florence, and Rome mark the first time the judiciary has formally questioned whether jure sanguinis, as practiced for over 160 years, can continue without limits.

The Referrals

Between mid-2023 and early 2024, four tribunals independently reached the same conclusion: the question of whether unlimited citizenship by descent is constitutional cannot be resolved by ordinary courts alone. Each suspended proceedings in pending citizenship cases and referred the question to Italy’s Constitutional Court under the incidental review procedure (giudizio incidentale).

The referring courts are the Tribunals of Bologna, Milan, Florence, and Rome. Their core concern centers on two constitutional provisions.

Article 1 (popular sovereignty): Does extending citizenship to millions of people with no genuine connection to Italy distort the concept of the “Italian People” as a constitutional category? When the diaspora population approaches or exceeds the resident population, who is the sovereign?

Article 3 (equality): Does the current system create an unjustified disparity between descendants of Italians, who can claim citizenship regardless of how many generations have passed, and foreign nationals who have lived in Italy for decades but face a 10-year naturalization requirement?

Why This Matters

These referrals represent a striking development: Italian judges, from within the system, questioning the foundational principle of the citizenship framework they apply daily. The referrals were not initiated by the government or by political parties. They were initiated by career magistrates who believe the question has constitutional dimensions that only the Constitutional Court can resolve.

The practical stakes are significant. An estimated 60,000 citizenship cases are pending across Italian tribunals. If the Constitutional Court were to impose limits on jure sanguinis, the consequences would ripple through every consulate and courtroom handling citizenship by descent.

What Happens Next

The Constitutional Court will schedule the referrals for a public hearing, likely in mid-2025. The Court can consolidate the four referrals into a single proceeding since they raise the same constitutional question. A ruling is expected to have erga omnes effect, binding on all courts and authorities.

The outcome is genuinely uncertain. The Court could decline to impose limits, finding that the determination of who qualifies as a citizen is a matter for parliamentary discretion. Or it could find that unlimited transmission across dozens of generations, to people with no territorial, linguistic, or cultural connection to Italy, exceeds what the Constitution permits. Or it could issue a warning (monito) to the legislature without striking down the current system.

Whatever the Court decides, the fact that four independent courts have raised the same question signals that the Italian judiciary considers the status quo constitutionally precarious. The era of unquestioned, unlimited jure sanguinis is over.

This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.