As I mentioned, I’ve been interested in the subject of Italian citizenship for years and have been looking for information about my family’s Italian origins. In my case, I have several branches to look for, as both my father and mother are children of Italian descendants. My ‘first Italian’, could be one of my great-grandparents (both paternal and maternal).
Ever since I discovered that, according to the Italian law, anyone who descends from an Italian is also an Italian, I started researching these ancestors.
Travelling to Italy (which unfortunately I did ‘late’ in life) only sharpened my desire even more. I fell in love with la Bella Italia and the fact that every cobblestone under our feet when walking the streets of that beautiful land holds our history as humanity and in my case, also my family history.
In my case, it was ‘easier’ to find the ancestors on my mother’s side of the family. The interesting thing is that at first I thought this would be a problem, because until 1947 Italian women didn’t pass on their citizenship. My mother was born before 1947 but the transmission is through her father so she has the right and I, who would be the next woman in the line of transmission, was born after 1947, so I could proceed normally through her family.
I put ‘easier’ up there under quotation marks because it wasn’t really easy at all. I started researching when the internet wasn’t as rich in information and available as it is today. It took years. I’ll list the resources I used in another post, for those who are still at this stage. And after I managed to find it, I went through a few more years of ‘inactivity’, even with the data in hand, because I didn’t understand the process properly.
That’s why I’ve decided to use this space to pass on the information I have and, perhaps, help someone who wants to follow this route.
For those just arriving, Benvenuti! This is my Italian story.