If you were ever told your case was blocked because a parent naturalized while you were a minor, that answer is out of date. Italy's Supreme Court settled this in applicants' favor on July 26, 2026, and there is now an official process to have a denied case looked at again.
This issue quietly closed off more cases than the two-generation limit that gets all the attention. It affected parent-line and grandparent-line claims just as easily as more distant ones, and for two years it was applied in a way that Italy's own highest court has now said was wrong.
What The Problem Actually Was
Under Law 555/1912, if an Italian ancestor voluntarily naturalized as a citizen of another country while their child was still a minor living with them, that child automatically lost Italian citizenship too, breaking the chain for every descendant who came after. This is separate from whether the ancestor themselves lost citizenship by naturalizing. It is about what happened to their child.
One detail catches almost everyone off guard. Before March 10, 1975, the Italian age of majority was 21, not 18. A person who was 19 or 20 when a parent naturalized was still legally a minor under Italian law at the time, even though they would be considered an adult by American standards.
Why this matters even if you think it does not apply to you
If any ancestor in your chain naturalized while their child was under 21, and that naturalization happened before March 10, 1975, this issue potentially applies, even if that child was what you would normally think of as a young adult rather than a child.
How It Got Applied Too Harshly
Starting around 2023, a stricter reading of this rule began closing cases that had previously been accepted. Under that interpretation, a parent's naturalization during a child's minority broke the chain outright, regardless of anything else about the child's own situation. People who had been told for years that their line was open suddenly heard the opposite.
What The Supreme Court Actually Decided
On July 26, 2026, Italy's Supreme Court, sitting in its full civil formation known as the Sezioni Unite, deposited its written decision, Sentenza 24045/2026. The case had been argued on April 14, 2026, so the written ruling followed the hearing by a little over three months, which is itself a fairly ordinary interval for a decision of this weight.
The Court drew a distinction that the stricter reading had missed. A minor who held dual citizenship from the moment they were born, Italian through descent and a citizen of their birth country simply by being born there, did not lose Italian citizenship when a parent later naturalized. Only a minor who held Italian citizenship exclusively, with no other citizenship of their own from birth, could lose it under this rule.
For the overwhelming majority of cases this applies to, someone born in the United States, Canada, or Australia to an Italian parent, that person was already a dual citizen the moment they were born, by descent from their parent and by birth in their own country. Under this ruling, a parent's later naturalization does not touch that.
A child born a dual citizen does not lose the Italian half of that simply because a parent later gained a third citizenship.
Two companion rulings, Sentenza 24184/2026 and Sentenza 24185/2026, were published on July 29, 2026, from the same set of arguments heard in April, and confirmed the same position.
What Happened Next: The Circular
A Supreme Court ruling settles the law, but it does not by itself change how a consulate or comune behaves at the counter. That took a second step. On August 10, 2026, Italy's Ministry of the Interior issued Circolare prot. 65050, directing prefects, consulates, and comuni to align their practice with the Sezioni Unite ruling.
The circular specifically superseded the previous, stricter guidance for naturalizations that occurred between July 1, 1912 and August 15, 1992, and, critically, it instructed offices to accept a request for re-examination of an original denied application rather than requiring a brand new filing from scratch.
If you were denied on this basis
You do not necessarily need to start over. The August 2026 circular directs the same office that denied your application to accept a request to look at it again in light of the Sezioni Unite ruling. This matters most for anyone refused, or told they were ineligible, during 2023 or 2024.
| Your situation | What applies now |
|---|---|
| You were dual citizen from birth, and a parent naturalized during your minority | The chain held. This does not break your line |
| You held only Italian citizenship as a minor, with no other citizenship from birth | The rule can still apply. This needs a careful look at your specific facts |
| You were denied on this basis in 2023 or 2024 | Request re-examination of your original application under Circolare 65050/2026, no new filing required |
What This Does Not Change
This ruling is specific to the minor issue. It has nothing to do with the two-generation limit introduced by Law 74/2025, which is a completely separate question about how far back your qualifying Italian ancestor can be. A case can be entirely clear of the minor issue and still be closed under the generational limit, or the other way around. Each has to be checked on its own terms.
It also does not mean every naturalization is harmless. If a minor genuinely held only Italian citizenship, with no other citizenship of their own at birth, the underlying rule in Law 555/1912 can still apply to their case. What changed is specifically the dual-citizen-at-birth scenario, which happens to describe most people researching this today.
What To Do If This Touches Your Case
If a parent, grandparent, or great grandparent in your line naturalized while their child was a minor, particularly a minor under 21 before March 1975, this is worth checking properly rather than assuming either outcome. The facts that decide it are specific: whether that child was already a citizen of their own birth country the day they were born, and exactly when the naturalization happened relative to that child's twenty first birthday under the rules in force at the time.
Find out if the minor issue actually affects your case.
In 10 minutes I can tell you whether this applies to your specific line, and if you were already denied on this basis, whether a re-examination request is the right next step. No charge, no commitment.
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