The Italian Constitutional Court has upheld the validity of the 2025 citizenship reform (Law 74/2025), which significantly tightens citizenship-by-descent rules. In short, the Court confirmed that Italy can require a “real and effective link” with the country in order to recognise citizenship, instead of allowing it to be passed down automatically and indefinitely through generations born abroad.
The Court’s reasoning is that citizenship is not just a matter of bloodline or genealogy, but a legal status that can be limited by the state when the connection with Italy becomes too weak or merely formal. For this reason, stricter limits on ius sanguinis were considered constitutional.
A key point in the ruling is that the law can apply retroactively in certain cases. This means it does not only affect future applications, but can also impact people born before the reform, as long as their citizenship had not already been formally recognised or their process had not reached a legally protected stage under the transitional rules.
The Court also rejected arguments based on constitutional rights, EU law, and international treaties. According to its interpretation, EU citizenship rights only apply once national citizenship has been legally recognised, and EU law does not require member states to maintain unrestricted citizenship by descent.
In summary, the ruling confirms a more restrictive model of citizenship in Italy: descent alone is no longer sufficient in all cases, a meaningful connection to the country is required, and the new limitations can, in certain circumstances, reach back to previously unrecognised claims to citizenship.
If anyone needs I did a translation of the ruling in spanish. ESPAÑOL - Sentencia 63-2026 - Corte Constitucional