Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation heard arguments Tuesday on the legality of government policies that stripped millions of descendants of Italian citizens abroad of their right to citizenship by descent. The so-called “minor issue” rule, implemented via a government circular in October 2024, was later codified into a more sweeping law in March 2025 that limited citizenship to two generations and effectively ended dual citizenship for many in the Italian diaspora.
The three cases before the court involved two American families and one Venezuelan plaintiff whose Italian-born mother naturalized while he was a minor. The court’s decision could set a precedent for challenging the broader 2025 law. The Procuratore Generale, an advisory official to the court, argued that citizenship cannot be lost involuntarily, a position that plaintiffs’ lawyers said could pave the way for reversal.
“It was important that she said that citizenship can only be lost by a voluntary act,” said Monica Restanio, attorney for the Venezuelan family. Attorney Marco Mellone, representing the American families, explicitly asked the court to rule on whether citizenship is a permanent right acquired at birth. He expressed “absolute confidence” that the “minor issue” would be declared illegal based on previous case law.
If the Cassazione rules favorably, it could open the door for lower courts to disregard the 2025 restrictions. However, a separate challenge to Law 74/2025 is pending before the Constitutional Court, which ruled in favor of the government in March but has not yet issued its reasoning. The next Constitutional Court hearings are set for June 9.
Members of the Italian diaspora expressed anxiety over the outcome. Jacqueline Matwick, whose family moved to Italy before the rule changed, said she is “holding my breath.” Karen Bonadio, a third-generation Italian-American, flew from San Diego to Rome to attend the hearing, saying, “I came because it means so much to me.”
The crackdown on citizenship comes as Italy’s birth rate fell to a record low of 1.14 children per woman in 2025, according to national statistics institute ISTAT. One in eight births in Italy last year were to foreign nationals.
