If your father, mother, grandfather or grandmother was born in Italy, your right may still exist, and we can assist you through every step of the process.
Rely on the assistance and legal representation of a law firm based in Rome, dedicated since 2008 exclusively to the recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis.
Where you stand
In March 2025, Italian law changed significantly. We prefer to explain this upfront, before you invest your time and expectations: today, not every descendant of an Italian citizen is still entitled to recognition. There are three possible scenarios.
Your father or mother was born in Italy. Or your grandfather or grandmother was born in Italy. Alternatively, your Italian parent legally resided in Italy for at least two years before your birth. In these situations your right may still exist and the legal path remains open. Where an ancestor in your line acquired another citizenship, the route to recognition changes and needs to be assessed individually.
Check my eligibilityYour ancestry goes beyond the second degree, but before 27 March 2025 you had already taken concrete steps, such as:
Following the legislative change of March 2025, the line of descent in your case falls outside the categories currently eligible for recognition. Proceedings challenging the reform are pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union, with a decision expected in approximately eighteen months.
Explore other ways to live in ItalyA situation that often goes unnoticed
Under the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, which came into force on 1 January 1915, the wife of a British subject automatically became a British subject upon marriage. An Italian woman who married a British subject therefore acquired British nationality automatically, without applying for it and without being able to refuse it.
Under Italian law in force before the Italian Constitution entered into force on 1 January 1948, the automatic acquisition of British nationality resulted in the automatic loss of Italian citizenship on the date of the marriage. This unequal treatment between men and women was removed by the Italian Constitutional Court in 1975. However, for the Italian Public Administration, where the marriage took place before 1 January 1948, the application remains inadmissible.
For this reason, these applications are refused administratively. If you have already been refused, this may be the reason. Only an Italian court has the authority to disregard the historical discriminatory rule and recognise the continuity of Italian citizenship for the descendants.
Check my eligibility
We provide legal assistance and representation to descendants of Italian citizens seeking recognition of Italian citizenship by descent, jure sanguinis.
Who we are
Boschetti International Law Firm was founded in Rome in 2008 by Avv. Francesco Boschetti, an Italian lawyer admitted to the Rome Bar and to the Italian higher courts, including the Court of Cassation, and specialising in citizenship law. The firm is organised into departments, each dedicated to a single area of practice, and a case can be carried through every level of the Italian court system without being handed to another firm.
Our clients come from Brazil, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and many other countries where Italian communities have long been established. That breadth of experience is the reason the most challenging cases reach us: we have already encountered most of the legal issues and objections before.
Our team brings together Italian lawyers and specialists working in English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, so that you follow your own case in your own language.
Avv. Francesco Boschetti
Founder and Managing Partner, admitted to the Rome Bar.
Why it matters
The right to live, work and study in any of the twenty seven EU Member States, which British citizens lost with Brexit, extending to your minor children.
Since Brexit, British nationals may spend only 90 days in any 180 in the Schengen area. As an Italian citizen that limit no longer applies: you may stay in Italy, or anywhere else in the Union, for as long as you wish.
If you settle in Italy, you register with the national health service on the same terms as any other Italian citizen, with access to one of the world's leading healthcare systems.
As an EU citizen you access domestic tuition fees in many Member States, where British nationals now pay international rates.
The right strategy
for your citizenship journey
How we work
There are two principal routes to recognition of Italian citizenship jure sanguinis. The right path depends on your circumstances, your documentation, and whether you are able to establish residence in Italy. Our Italian qualified lawyers will guide you to the most appropriate route for your case.
When the consular route is unavailable or impractical, Italian law allows applicants to seek recognition of their citizenship directly before the competent Italian court. In some cases, such as where the line of descent passes through an Italian woman who married a foreign citizen before 1 January 1948, judicial proceedings are the only legal route available.
Our lawyers, admitted to the Rome Bar, prepare and file the case, handle the evidence, and represent you throughout the proceedings.
You do not need to travel to Italy. Where the Consulates in London, Manchester or Edinburgh offer no appointments through the Prenot@mi portal, we act on your behalf under a special power of attorney, executed before a UK notary public, then apostilled and translated.
If you are in a position to establish residence in Italy, you may apply for recognition directly at the registry office of the Italian municipality where you take up residence. We assist you with the full administrative process, including:
Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, British citizens are third country nationals for the purposes of Italian law, so a stay of more than ninety days requires an appropriate visa or residence permit. We examine this at the beginning, not at the end.
We do not promise results, because no responsible lawyer can. We carefully assess every case and honestly advise you whether there is a viable legal strategy, how strong it is, and which objections are likely to be raised by the opposing party.
Avv. Francesco Boschetti, Founder and Managing Partner, admitted to the Rome Bar
Not sure which route applies to your family?
Contact us nowWhat our clients say
Reviews published on our Google profile. Every review below links back to it.
The path to Italian Citizenship has been a long but thankfully successful process. The jurisdiction for 1948 citizenship by descent court cases shifted from the Civil Court of Rome to the local courts in the middle of our application but in spite of the new and untested legal mechanism, everything went through with no difficulty. [...] I must make special reference to our contact Avv. Federico Migliaccio who was always on call, explained all matters in excellent English and always took a careful and most professional approach to our case.
Tom
To be completely honest, we were very nervous at the beginning. When you search online, you find all kinds of information, and the fear of falling victim to a scam or someone promising miracles is always there. However, Boschetti International Law Firm immediately stood out to us as the most trustworthy and professional choice, and the results confirmed every one of our expectations. [...] They did not sell us false hopes, they provided a realistic and well founded legal strategy.
Daniele
Although the entire process was handled remotely by phone and email, Attorney Boschetti and his team immediately took our case to heart. They guided us through every stage of the procedure, providing continuous support and assistance, especially whenever unexpected issues arose. Within three years, my wife obtained recognition of her Italian citizenship, and we could not be more satisfied or grateful.
Francesco
They were professional and transparent from the very beginning. They assisted me with my documents and guided me through every stage of the process, providing clear updates on the status of my application and explaining each step that needed to be taken. [...] I obtained recognition of my Italian citizenship after two and a half years.
Alexandre
I had the opportunity to apply for my Italian citizenship through the maternal line with Boschetti International Law Firm, after finding excellent reviews online. [...] We obtained recognition of our Italian citizenship in a very short time. [...] One additional advantage worth highlighting is that the firm's staff can assist clients in Spanish, English, and Italian.
Gabriela
We entrusted the firm with our Italian citizenship case, and everything they told us from the very beginning turned out exactly as they had explained. From start to finish, every commitment was honored. The entire team was exceptionally honest, professional, and reliable throughout the process.
Guglielmo
A written engagement, fees agreed before anything begins, and the same team throughout, working in your own language.
Still undecided
Since 2008 this firm has worked on Italian citizenship and immigration law and on nothing else. Your case is not handled by one practitioner between other matters. It is handled by a team of Italian qualified lawyers and specialists, admitted to the Rome Bar, each responsible for a stage of the procedure, so that the work continues whatever happens to any single person's diary.
Our clients write publicly about the work we did for them. A selection appears above. There are more than six hundred on our Google profile, and we invite you to read the measured ones as well as the enthusiastic ones.
A straightforward file finds help anywhere. We are instructed on the files that are not: lines running through a female ancestor whose child was born before 1948, ancestors who acquired another citizenship while their child was still a minor, and cases where the consular route closed before any appointment could be secured. We take these on when there is a legal argument to make, and we say so plainly when there is not.
Recognition is the beginning, not the end, and we handle what follows within a single relationship. If you settle in Italy: registration of residence, the Italian tax code, the identity card, enrolment with the national health service, and full relocation assistance. If you remain in the United Kingdom: AIRE registration and the consular formalities that follow from it.
Free assessment
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Avv. Francesco Boschetti is registered with the Rome Bar Association and admitted to practise before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation and the other higher courts. His registration can be checked on the public register of Italian lawyers maintained by the National Bar Council: search for Boschetti Francesco under the Rome Bar.