Americans challenge Italy’s new law restricting citizenship by descent

Karen Bonadio, from the United States, holds a picture of her and her grandfather Giuseppe Nicola Montesano, as she is interviewed by the Associated Press outside Italy's highest Court of Cassation, in Rome, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, prior to the start of a hearing to argue against the new citizenship law that restricts citizenship by descent - (AP)

Two U.S. families went to Italy's highest court Tuesday to challenge the scope of a year-old law passed by Giorgia Meloni's government limiting citizenship claims to Italian descendants removed by more than two generations.

Their lawyer, Marco Mellone, argued before the Cassation Court that the law should apply only to people born after it took effect, potentially opening a pathway to citizenship for millions of people living in the United States and parts of Latin America. Another lawyer represented Italian descendants from Venezuela.