Italy’s Constitutional Court has taken an important step by merging two legal cases that challenge the constitutionality of Decree‑Law 36/2025, which was later converted into law and reformed the rules for recognizing Italian citizenship by descent (jus sanguinis).
What happened?
On January 14, the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana published an ordinanza (order) from the Court of Mantua, joining its case with a similar one from the Court of Turin so that both can be judged together by the Constitutional Court. The hearing is scheduled for March 11, 2026, at the Court’s headquarters in Rome.
The consolidation of the cases is a strategy used by the Italian judicial system to allow the Constitutional Court to issue a single, uniform legal ruling on the validity of Article 3‑bis of Law 91/1992—introduced by recent legislative changes and central to the so‑called Tajani Decree.
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Case details
The Mantua case involves a minor whose citizenship recognition was denied by the municipality of Canneto sull’Oglio, which argued that the new legal restrictions applied even though the family’s process had begun before the law changed.
The defense argues that the rule violates fundamental constitutional principles, such as legitimate expectation and equality among citizens.
Legal perspectives
Attorney Maria Stella La Malfa, who represents the Mantua case, commented on social media that the early publication of the decision signals the importance of the issue, as it allows both legal fronts to be evaluated simultaneously by the Court.
What’s at stake
The March 2026 hearing represents a decisive moment for thousands of Italian descendants whose citizenship recognition requests have been affected by the changes introduced by the Tajani Decree.
If the Court rules that the provision is unconstitutional, it could significantly impact the rules applied to citizenship cases—especially those initiated after the law came into force.