Does this apply to your family? Answer a few questions and see where your line stands.
Who in your family was born in Italy, and what happened after: that is all the check asks. No email, no account. It runs in your browser and your answers never leave it. It can end with a plain no.
The written answer below explains the rule this page is about. The check above covers your whole line.
1948 cases after Law 74/2025: can I still file one?
You can still file, and whether the 2025 generational cap applies to your case is genuinely unsettled as of 7 September 2026. Official guidance treats article 3-bis as applying to judicial claims filed after the cutoff of 27 March 2025; several Italian tribunals have held that the reform does not govern 1948 claims; no binding decision has resolved that split.
This page marks the line between what is settled and what is a live dispute, because most pages on this topic pick a side and sell it.
What a 1948 case is, in one paragraph
Before the Italian Constitution took effect on 1 January 1948, Italian law did not let a mother transmit citizenship to her child on the same terms as a father. Italian courts have long held that the discrimination cannot stand, and they recognise those maternal lines. Consulates do not: administratively the pre-1948 maternal step is still treated as a break, which is why the remedy is a court case and why it carries the name of the year.
Settled
- A case filed by 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025 stays under the old rules. Condition (b) of article 3-bis says so, and the courts have confirmed it repeatedly.
- Consulates continue to refuse pre-1948 maternal lines, so the route is judicial by design.
- A 1948 argument repairs a step in the chain. It is not itself a gate in article 3-bis.
Contested
Whether article 3-bis governs a 1948 claim filed after the cutoff. Ministry guidance says yes; a number of tribunals have ruled that the reform does not apply to these constitutional claims. This is unresolved, and different courtrooms are giving different answers.
Effectively closed
Using a 1948 case as a way round the generational limit. Where article 3-bis is applied, a claimant whose nearest Italian ancestor is a great-grandparent does not become eligible because a woman appears in the line. The two problems are different problems.
The question to put to your own file
If the answer is yes, the 1948 argument is doing what it does best: fixing a chain that is otherwise sound, in a forum that accepts it. If the answer is no, your case depends on winning the contested question above before it ever reaches the maternal-line argument, and that is a materially riskier proposition to fund.
The money, current as of today
The old figure of €286 covering a whole family has not applied since 1 January 2025. In a joint family case each petitioner pays €600 separately. Published lawyer quotes we found on 7 September 2026 differ by roughly a factor of three, so we publish no average; ask for the number in writing.
Two procedural changes that make these cases harder
- The burden moved. Under the amended procedure the claimant must plead and prove that no event interrupted transmission, rather than the state proving that one did.
- The decisory oath and witness testimony are excluded in these proceedings. Everything is documents, which raises the cost of a thin paper trail.
Where this route genuinely needs a lawyer
This one does. A contested question of law, an Italian venue, mandatory documentary proof and a fee per head are not a self-help situation. We publish the rules and the sources; we do not review cases, and on this route the honest recommendation is Italian counsel before money moves.
- Article 3-bis of Law 91/1992, condition (b), and the cutoff of 23:59 Rome time on 27 March 2025. Read the converted text in the Official Gazette, checked 10 September 2026.
- Constitution of the Italian Republic, in force 1 January 1948, the basis of the maternal-line case law.
- Procedure, burden and evidence: article 19-bis of Legislative Decree 150/2011 as amended by Law 74/2025; territorial venue under Law 206/2021.
- 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; Ministry of Justice circular of 16 January 2025. Read the Ministry of Justice circular of 16 January 2025, checked 10 September 2026.
- The contested application of Law 74/2025 to 1948 claims: divergent tribunal decisions reported in Italian and English practitioner commentary through 2026; no binding resolution located as of the date above.
One next step
Find out whether your line stands on its own under article 3-bis before you price a 1948 case, because that answer changes what you are buying: a chain repair in a friendly forum, or a bet on an unresolved question of law.
Run the free check, about two minutesIt has a branch for a pre-1948 maternal step, and it tells you when a lawyer is the honest answer.