Ricerc@Sapienza

Especially over the last two decades, many countries of continental Europe have undergone fundamental reforms of the rules relating to the transmission of the surname to children under the pressure of the principles of equality between man and woman and non-disparity in treatment based on the type of filiation. This has led to the erosion of the widespread principle prescribing the automatic and invariable attribution to the descendants of the paternal surname and the resulting recognition of the possibility for them to be attributed the mother's surname. The Belgium most recently adopted legislation, which has definitively eliminated discriminatory solutions against women on the matter, gives the opportunity to delve into the various phases of the reform process in the country. The analysis will then touch upon experiences such as those of the Nordic countries and England marked by a generally less conservative approach and finally conclude with a survey of the Italian situation.