Meta description: Tribunale di Venezia recognizes interest and territorial competence for the action to recognize Italian citizenship; the decision concerns only admissibility and territorial competence.

The sentence n. 19718/2026 of the Tribunale di Venezia, published on 26/10/2026, acknowledged that the plaintiffs had an interest in bringing before the judiciary a request for recognition of the italian citizenship iure sanguinis and declared the territorial competence of the Tribunal of Venice due to the birthplace of the ancestor. According to the text of the decision published by Diritto Pratico, the publicly available portion of the sentence deals with admissibility and competence, without transcribing the final provision on the merits of citizenship recognition. Source: Diritto Pratico — https://apps.dirittopratico.it/sentenze.html?c=https://apps.dirittopratico.it/sentenza/tribunale/venezia/2026/19718.html#1d179

Decision summary — Tribunale di Venezia, Italian citizenship, iure sanguinis

• Sentence: n. 19718/2026, Tribunale di Venezia, published on 26/10/2026 (source: Diritto Pratico).
• Court understanding: applicants have a legitimate interest to file a judicial action when there is uncertainty about the right or administrative omission; the Venice Court is territorially competent because the Italian ancestor was born in a comune in the Province of Venice.
• Procedural status: the implicated administrative authority was cited, did not appear, and was declared in default; the Public Prosecutor’s Office was informed and summoned to follow, in accordance with rules applicable to matters of status of persons.

  “Sentenza n. 19718/2026 — the published excerpt concerns admissibility and competence; the portion available does not contain the final merits decision on citizenship recognition.” — according to the text of the decision published by Diritto Pratico.

What the Court decided (procedural components) — territorial competence, citizenship process

• Admissibility: The Court confirmed there is standing for judicial action in the face of legal uncertainty or administrative omission, recognizing the right of the plaintiffs to have the matter reviewed by the Judiciary.
• Competence: The court applied rules tied to the legislation governing competence for residents abroad (the articulation of Law 206/2021 mentioned in the ruling), establishing competence in the Tribunal of the comune of birth of the ancestor (father/mother/grandparent). In this case, this criterion led to the competence of the Tribunale di Venezia.
• Action of the authority and the Public Prosecutor: the administrative authority was cited and declared in default; the records were remitted to the Procuratore della Repubblica for supervision, under the terms applicable to civil status and persons.

What this means in practice for Brazilian families — citizenship process

• For those living in Brazil pursuing citizenship by descent, the decision confirms that it is possible to file a judicial action when there is uncertainty about the right or inertia/omission by the administration.
• The determination of territorial competence based on the birthplace of the ancestor can require applicants residing abroad to file actions in specific Italian courts — here, Venice, as the birth province of the grandfather on the registry.
• Important: the publicly disclosed portion of the sentence only deals with admissibility and competence. This means that the excerpt available did not provide an automatic grant of citizenship; the merit will depend on documentary evidence and a subsequent judicial decision.

Deadlines, evidence and practical procedures — citizenship process, essential proofs

• Administrative vs judicial path: since the issuance of the Tajani Decree (DL 36/2025, converted into Law 74/2025), substantive changes occurred. In particular, the decree greatly restricted administrative recognition in the comune for jure sanguinis requests in most cases and limited the consular path — this path is restricted to children and grandchildren of Italians; requests by great-grandchildren and later generations are no longer admitted via consular channels. Therefore, specialized legal advice is recommended to assess whether the administrative or consular route is currently applicable to the specific case before choosing to attempt an administrative request. When the administrative or consular route is not available, the judicial route remains an option.
• Essential proofs:
  • birth, marriage, and death certificates proving direct line of descent from the Italian ancestor;
  • documents proving date of naturalization (or its absence) of the ancestor, to show citizenship was not lost before the relevant descendants were born; note that the Tajani Decree introduced rules that may alter the assessment of the material right in certain cases and requires careful analysis of facts and dates;
  • official translations and apostilles according to private international law rules.
• Procedural deadlines: citizenship by blood is related to status and the right does not prescribe; however, deadlines and procedural cadences of the Italian civil procedure govern the action's progress.

Impact of recent laws and final observations — Tajani Decree / Law 74/2025 and context

• The excerpt of the sentence published does not reference the Tajani Decree (DL 36/2025) nor Law 74/2025 (decree conversion). Thus, the decision focuses on admissibility and competence based on the case law and the legislation cited in the ruling (including Law 206/2021).

• Maximum attention to the Tajani Decree/L.74/2025: the decree restricts administrative and consular avenues for citizenship recognition by descendants. Practically and under current law (2025–2026):

• Administrative recognition in the comune is no longer possible for foreign residents seeking jure sanguinis recognition in most cases;
• The consular path has been restricted and is now available only to children and grandchildren of Italians; great-grandchildren and later generations can no longer obtain consular recognition;
• The judicial path remains, but the decree's new provisions affect the material right and its application must be assessed case by case.

Sources:

• Text of the sentence (public part) — Diritto Pratico: https://apps.dirittopratico.it/sentenze.html?c=https://apps.dirittopratico.it/sentenza/tribunale/venezia/2026/19718.html#1d179
• For context on procedures and citizenship: also see our pages on Cidadania Italiana and updates in Notícias da Itália and Vida na Itália.

Conclusion: the decision of the Tribunale di Venezia (n. 19718/2026) recognizes the right of the applicants to bring before the Judiciary requests for citizenship recognition and fixes territorial competence based on the birthplace of the ancestor; however, the publicly available excerpt only deals with procedural issues, not the final determination of the right. Be mindful of the restrictions introduced by the Tajani Decree (DL 36/2025 / L. 74/2025) regarding administrative and consular avenues when evaluating strategy.