My line was cut by the 2025 law. What is left?

Four things, and none of them is a version of the route you lost. Two involve moving to Italy, one is a declaration a living ancestor can make before it closes on 31 December 2027, one is the free declaration route for a minor child, and beyond those there is a pending case in Luxembourg with no answer before late 2027 at the earliest.

Recognition by descent is not among them. If article 3-bis excludes your line and nothing was filed before 27 March 2025, that door is shut as the law stands today.

Route 1, with a closing date

A living ancestor reacquires their own citizenship

A person who was born in Italy, or who lived there at least two continuous years, and who lost Italian citizenship under the old rules by naturalising abroad, may reacquire it by declaration in a window running from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2027. It does not require moving to Italy.

It takes effect from the day after the declaration, with no retroactive reach.
It does not repair your own position under article 3-bis, because the reacquirer becomes a dual citizen and so still fails the exclusivity test.
It is not open to people who renounced after 16 August 1992.
What it does change is that person's own status, and what that opens for the family in residence and reunification terms.

The question for you: is that ancestor alive, and would they want to do this before 31 December 2027?

Routes 2 and 3, which require living in Italy

Two years of legal residence, for descendants

Discretionary naturalisation after two years of legal residence in Italy, for a person whose parent or grandparent is or was an Italian citizen by birth. The reform shortened this from three years to two. Two honest cautions: it is discretionary rather than a right, and residence has to be established legally first, which for a non-EU national means a visa before anything else.

The general residence route

Naturalisation by residence on the ordinary terms, which is a long horizon rather than a workaround, and belongs to people who actually intend to live in Italy.

Neither of these is citizenship by descent. They are naturalisation, they are granted rather than recognised, and they start with a move.

Route 4

A minor child, through a parent who is Italian by birth

Free, and on its own deadline. It applies only where a parent already holds Italian citizenship by birth, so it is not a way in for a family whose whole line was cut. See the minors page.

Before you accept that your line is cut, three checks

Count from yourself, not from the emigrant. Condition (c) asks about a parent or grandparent on the day you were born, whoever left Italy.
Ask about two years in Italy. Condition (d) is a separate gate and needs no exclusivity at all. See that page.
Search the family for a pre-cutoff filing. A cousin's application, a booking confirmation or a court case from before 27 March 2025 protects the person it names, and knowing it exists changes what the rest of the family should do.

The one case that could change the law itself

Pending, no answer expected before late 2027

By order 147/2026 of 23 July 2026 the Constitutional Court asked the EU Court of Justice whether EU citizenship law permits a national rule that retroactively deems people born abroad never to have acquired Italian citizenship. Article 3-bis applies in full while that case is pending.

There is no action available today that improves your position in that case. Filing now and paying €600 a head to ask for a stay is a bet, not a step, and no tribunal is obliged to grant it. See the referral page.

How you will know if it changes

The events worth watching are specific and dated: an Advocate General opinion and then a judgment in the referred case; any new Interior Ministry circular; and the annual budget law each December, which is the vehicle that has already moved these rules twice in 2026.

We update these pages when one of those lands, and each page carries the date it was last checked so you can see for yourself whether it has gone stale. If you would rather be told than keep checking, the update list exists for that and does one thing: it sends a message when a rule on these pages changes, and stops when you say so.

Sources, checked on 7 September 2026

Article 17-ter of Law 91/1992, as introduced in 2025: reacquisition by declaration between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027, for persons born in Italy or formerly resident there at least two continuous years who lost citizenship under the pre-1992 rules; effective from the day after the declaration; not available to those who renounced after 16 August 1992.
Article 9(1)(a) of Law 91/1992 as amended: discretionary naturalisation after two years of legal residence for descendants of a parent or grandparent who is or was a citizen by birth.
Article 4 of Law 91/1992 and the transitional rule for minors, with the deadline extended to 31 May 2029 by Law 26 of 28 February 2026.
Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, conditions (a) to (d), and the cutoff of 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025.
Constitutional Court, judgment 63/2026, deposited 30 April 2026, and order 147/2026, deposited 23 July 2026.
Court filing fee of €600 per petitioner: article 13, paragraph 1-sexies, Presidential Decree 115/2002, added by Law 207/2024, article 1, paragraph 814.

One honest next step

If the three checks above all come back negative, this route is closed to you today, and the useful thing is to stop paying for the question. Do not buy a consultation to be told the same thing, and do not pay a consular fee that is not refunded when the answer is no.

If any of the three is uncertain rather than negative, that one is worth two minutes. Our check runs them in order and is built to end in a no.

Run the free check

No email, no account, and no product on the other side of a closed line.