L'Aquila Rules on Citizenship: Case Tests Tajani Decree Transition Rule

The Tribunale di L'Aquila issued a decision that illustrates, in practice, the coexistence of two distinct legal regimes for the recognition of Italian citizenship within a single judicial proceeding. Judgment no. 1943/2026, published on July 2, 2026, analyzed an iure sanguinis petition in which one of the applicants entered the process before the Decreto Tajani and another, a minor, was included under the new rules of Law 74/2025. The decision was accessed on the Diritto Pratico portal, specialized in providing sentences from Italian courts on citizenship matters.

What the L'Aquila Court Decided

According to the text of the judgment published by Diritto Pratico, the case was filed in 2024 and took approximately 30 months until the judgment was published in July 2026. The case combines two distinct procedural situations: the petition of the original applicant, filed before the Decreto Tajani and Law 74/2025 came into effect, and the petition of a minor, included later through voluntary intervention, already under the new legislation.

The Italian Interior Ministry, cited as a party to the case, did not present a defense, resulting in default — a common situation in Italian citizenship recognition actions, where the agency frequently does not contest the merits.

The excerpt from the Diritto Pratico decision brings the judge's preliminary analysis on the validity of the minor's intervention in light of Law 74/2025, but does not reveal the complete final judgment ruling. In other words, it is possible to follow the court's legal reasoning on applicable requirements, without having, based on the available material, the exact conclusion on whether each petition was granted or denied.

Why the Filing Date Makes All the Difference

The central point of the case is the date each petition was submitted to the court. The original applicant filed his action before March 28, 2025 — the date when Decreto Tajani (DL 36/2025, converted into Law 74/2025) came into effect, becoming a watershed moment. Petitions filed before that date remain, as a rule, subject to prior rules, without the new generational limit imposed by the reform.

The minor's intervention in the case, carried out after that key date, subjects his petition to the new requirements brought by the decree, which restricted judicial recognition to those with a first or second degree ancestor — parent or grandparent — with exclusive Italian citizenship, eliminating the possibility of recognition for great-grandchildren and more distant generations without this direct link.

This difference in treatment within a single judicial proceeding shows how the reform created two legal regimes that now coexist in actions still pending, depending solely on the moment each applicant entered the case.

The Transition Rule for Minors Explained

Law 74/2025 provided a specific exception designed to protect children and adolescents who, without this transitional rule, would lose the right to recognition because of the new generational limit. This is a favorable rule for those who were already minors on the date the conversion law came into effect in May 2025 and are the child of a natural-born Italian citizen.

In the case decided in L'Aquila, it fell to the judge to verify whether the minor included in the proceeding fits exactly within this exception, before proceeding to substantive analysis of his right to Italian citizenship. This preliminary verification stage is decisive: without fitting within the transition rule, the minor's petition would be entirely subject to the general restrictions of Decreto Tajani, which could make recognition impossible if there is no direct ancestor — parent or grandparent — with exclusively Italian citizenship.

To better understand the specific rules applicable to children and adolescents in this context, Raízes Italianas has already explained in detail the criteria for citizenship for minors in light of the new legislation.

What This Changes in Practice for Brazilian Families

The case decided by the Tribunale di L'Aquila serves as a concrete example of a situation that is already a reality in various judicial proceedings pending in Italy: actions with multiple applicants — often family members — may result in different outcomes among themselves, depending solely on the date each petition was submitted to the court.

For Brazilian families with minor children seeking recognition of Italian citizenship, the decision reinforces a practical point of attention: the child's date of birth and the date the conversion law came into effect in May 2025 have become decisive factors in determining which set of rules will apply to your case. A difference of months in the timing of filing a new action or including a dependent in an existing proceeding may mean the difference between applying old rules or the new requirements brought by the decree.

This scenario reinforces the importance of carefully evaluating the timing of filing new actions or including dependents in existing proceedings, since decisions made in this regard have concrete legal effects and potentially different outcomes for each family member.

Source and Verification

The decision analyzed in this article was accessed on the Diritto Pratico portal, a platform that provides sentences from Italian courts related to Italian citizenship proceedings. It is important to note that the text of Judgment no. 1943/2026 is only partially available at the consulted source, and the complete final ruling — that is, the full substantive decision on each petition — was not included in the analyzed excerpt.

Given the complexity brought by the coexistence of distinct legal regimes within a single case, it is recommended that families in a similar situation monitor the specific developments of their cases with specialized legal guidance, capable of evaluating the particularities of each petition in light of legislation in effect on the date it was filed.

The case decided in L'Aquila is part of a growing body of decisions testing, in practice, the limits and exceptions of Decreto Tajani since its conversion into law. To follow other developments on this topic, Raízes Italianas maintains ongoing coverage in its Italy news and Italian citizenship sections, as well as content focused on life in Italy for those who have already begun the recognition process.

Want to know if you have the right to Italian citizenship? Talk to a specialized advisor.