Ricerc@Sapienza

The essay begins with a reconstruction of the different cultural approaches to the constitutional notion
of citizenship which lie behind the notions of ius sanguinis and ius soli; legislative developments
on these matters are analysed considering the various sources of law and the areas (such as gender,
race, class, religious beliefs…) historically influenced by citizenship as a factor of inclusion/exclusion.
The following part includes a historical overview of Italian legislative measures concerning citizenship.
The first two examples are the 1849 Constitution of the Repubblica romana and the 1865 Civil
Code, the former representing a ‘democratic’ vision of citizenship, while the latter is an example of
the ‘liberal’ vision, in nineteenth century constitutional culture. A further case is law n. 555 of 1912,
enacted in view of the major emigration flows from Italy which had begun already shortly after the
unification of the country: this act was aimed at granting that migrants and their descendants would
maintain Italian citizenship. Meanwhile, the colonial experience introduced major factors of ‘complication’
in the vision of Italian citizenship, introducing many forms of fragmentation and hierarchy
based on race and origin. The regulation on citizenship presently in force is Act n. 91 of 1992, which
eliminated the remaining forms of gender discrimination in this field and transposed the new EU
norms on European citizenship, but did not respond in the same way to other historical developments,
such as the changes in migration flows. Indeed, according to the 1992 Act, Italian citizenship
remains granted to individuals who no longer have any real relationship with Italy, while it is very
difficult to acquire for people who have lived in the country for a long time and actively participate
in economic and social life, and also for their offspring, born in Italy or arrived in the country at a
very young age. The failure of many attempts to reform the legislation on citizenship is a further proof
of its shortcomings in promoting effective integration of second generation immigrants. Furthermore,
the surge of a form of populism which is more and more openly publicizing its xenophobia, confirms
how urgent it is to rethink the rules on the acquisition of citizenship, in an increasingly pluralistic
and ‘post-national’ social context.