Background

Before the Unification of Italy in 1861, JS was governed by the Codice Albertino, also known as the Civil Code of Sardinia of 1837.

In order to qualify for JS (pre-DL36/L74, of course), your ancestor must have been alive after the Unification of Italy on March 17, 1861 (October 12, 1866 for Veneto). It didn't matter if they were born before that date and/or if they moved away, they were conferred Italian citizenship if they hadn't naturalized and were still alive on [or born after] that date. Children born abroad before that date with parents who were eligible to be conferred Italian citizenship also received Italian citizenship backdated to birth.

Sources:

• Art. 9 of the Codice Albertino
• Art. 4 of the Civil Code of 1865 (retroactive to Unification)
• Art. 21 of the United Nations Resolution 55/153 of 2001 (later codified by 63/118 of 2008)
• Tribunale di Roma sentenza n. 19625/2025

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So what's going on now?

The Ministry wants to pick a fight over this, ostensibly to disqualify even more of our Italo-South American cugini, and has chosen to do so with cases at the Tribunale di Genova, for some reason. Their logic is that if someone was born while the Codice Albertino was in effect, expatriated before the Unification, and showed no signs of coming back to Italy, they lost their Italian citizenship before the Civil Code of 1865 was enacted. This is partially supported by Art. 34 of the Codice Albertino:

Il suddito, che acquista la naturalità in paese straniero, o vi si stabilisce con animo di non più ritornare, perde il godimento dei diritti civili inerenti alla qualità di suddito.

But only if you ignore the rest of that same article:

Il domicilio trasportato in paese straniero, qualùnque ne sia la durata, non basterà da se solo a far prova dell’intenzione di non più ritornare.

Gli stabilimenti di commercio non potranno essere considerati come fatti con animo di non più ritornare.

Additionally, the Codice Albertino never actually defines what's needed to prove "intent/spirit to never return", besides saying that simply moving abroad and/or conducting business doesn't count (see above). The Ministry's arguments to show intent are basically that Argentina was "difficult to get to" (meaning, it was a grueling trip) and that the ancestor never visited Italy. Naturally, the Ministry also wants the burden of proof to show that the ancestor intended to return on the applicant, instead of the Ministry.

Unfortunately, judge Bucarelli, who currently handles all cases filed after October 2024 at the Tribunale di Genova, is taking the bait, while others, including judge Scuras and all of the Corte d'Appello di Genova judges, are not. The Ministry didn't like taking "no" for an answer at the Appello and decided to take three of their failed appeal attempts to the Corte Suprema di Cassazione:

• RG 10220/2025
  • Ancestor born 1827, next in line was born in Argentina in 1856.
• RG 10274/2025
  • Ancestor born in 1832, emigrated before 1859, next in line was born in Argentina in 1881.
• RG 10502/2025
  • Ancestor born in 1826, next in line was born in Argentina in 1867.

Before reaching the Cassazione, all of these cases were decided by judge Davini at the Corte d'Appello di Genova, who rejected the Ministry's appeals and affirmed the cases' respective recognition rulings by judges Scuras and Amoretti at the Tribunale Ordinario di Genova. In other words, the descendants were all recognized by Tribunale rulings in 2023, which were upheld by Appello rulings in March 2025. The Ministry then filed all three of these cases at the Cassazione in May 2025.

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FAQ

What does this mean?

• It means that the Cassazione is going to decide if the [pre-DL] JS regime stands or if yet another pillar of JS is going to be re-interpreted.
• Seeing as this is another attempt to force a nebulous "effective ties" requirement onto JS, the likelihood of success of these Cassazione cases is... questionable...

Are judges at my court doing this?

• Probably not, I've only come across it at Genova and only with judge Bucarelli.

Is the Ministry going to target my case for appeal?

• Are you Italo-South American with an ancestor who expatriated before 1861 and your case is filed at the Tribunale di Genova?
• Granted, I haven't read all of the sentences at the Appello, but of the ones I have read, it doesn't look like the Ministry is getting anywhere with their efforts since Appello judges have been affirming the lower court's recognition rulings.

Does this affect judicial cases right now?

• Not right now, besides a portion of the intended targets at one court who have judge Bucarelli. It could in the future, but we won't see an initial hearing until probably May 2026, at the earliest.
• If you want extra peace of mind, the Appello decisions rejecting the Ministry's appeals cite an array of well-sourced arguments, including the United Sections ruling for the Brazilian Great Naturalization (25317/2022), which outlines where the burden of proof lies for proving a negative in court (spoiler: with the Ministry).

What about administrative (consulate/embassy/comune) cases?

• The Ministry would need to choose to issue a circolare following the Cassazione's ruling to affect administrative cases.

What about DL36/L74 or the minor issue?

• This has nothing to do with either topic. Although, if you have a grandparent born in Italy who expatriated before 1861, I'm impressed.

So... nothing's going to happen for at least a year?

• Correct. Again, this also started over a year ago: the original Corte d'Appello cases were filed in 2023-2024.
• This is only getting brought up now because I keep my finger on the pulse when it comes to Cassazione cases and these caught my attention.