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A History of Italian Citizenship Laws during the Era of the Monarchy (1861-1946)

January 2016
Advances in Historical Studies 05(04):143-167

DOI:10.4236/ahs.2016.54014

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Authors:

Luca Bussotti

ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

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Advances in Historical Studies, 2016, 5, 143-167

http://www.scirp.org/journal/ahs

ISSN Online: 2327-0446

ISSN Print: 2327-0438

DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2016.54014 September 12, 2016

A History of Italian Citizenship Laws during the

Era of the Monarchy (1861-1946)

Luca Bussotti1,2,3

1International Studies Centre, ISCTE/IUL, Lisbon, Portugal

2CEC (Centro de Estudos Interdisciplinarers de Comunicação), Maputo, Mozambique

3ISGE-GM, Marracuene, Mozambique

Abstract

This article aims to present the evolution of Italian citizenship from political unific

tion to the end of the Second World War, which in Italy corresponds with the end of

the monarchy and the advent of the Republic. In this long period, the central defin

tion of Itali

an citizenship was given by the Civil Code (1865), the basis of which was

Ius sanguinis

and the patrilineal system. The 1912 Law on Citizenship changed some

aspects of the previous legislation, but did not alter the general legal scenario, despite

great pressure from some organised movements such as those formed by Italian e

patriates

in the Americas. With the advent of fascism (1922), the discourse on the

Italian nation became radicalised, but Mussolini’s regime did not pass any organic

laws on citizenship. The innovations introduced under fascism were relatively mo

est; many were directed towards limiting the rights of particular categories of cit

zens, such as political opponents and Jewish people. Italy reached the beginning of

the republican period with

a legal apparatus on citizenship that was very similar to

the one established for the first time in the Civil Code of 1865. This shows how Ita

ian political classes have given more attention to the orthodoxy of the law than to the

need to adapt it to the numerous transformations in Italian society.

Keywords

Italian Citizenship, Nation, Fascism, Legal Innovation

1. Introduction

This work does not have philosophical objectives: in particular, it does not want to con-

sider the ancient and complex debate on the concept of citizenship, maybe one of the

most important of Western thought since the Greeks onwards. So, the article will not

How to cite this paper:

Bussotti, L. (2016)

A History of Italian Citizenship Laws dur-

ing the Era of the Monarchy (1861

-1946)

Advances in Historical Studi

es, 5,

143-167.

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2016.54014

Received:

August 12, 2016

Accepted:

September 9, 2016

Published:

September 12, 2016

6 by author and

Scientific

Research Publishing Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution International

License (CC BY

4.0).

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Open Access

L. Bussotti

144

discuss the various conceptions of citizenship before the period here approached, fo-

cusing its analysis on a historical, juridical and political perspective.

The main objective is thus to analyse the evolution of Italian citizenship during the

era of the monarchy, from the foundation of the Italian Kingdom (1861) to the refer-

endum which, after the end of the Second World War in 1946, replaced the monarchy

with the Republic as the new form of state for Italy.

Its main thesis is that a line of continuity has crossed Italian right on citizenship in

this long period, even if during Fascism (1922-1943) some transformations has oc-

curred, especially in terms of general conception rather than of actual change of citi-

zenship law.

The European context, throughout the 18th century, was extremely dynamic, as from

a political as from a juridical point of view. After the French Revolution and the

Restauration, many States experienced new social movements, whose aim was to obtain

the political independence or the reduction of monarchic power. The first country to

reach this goal (from the Ottoman Empire) was Greece, meanwhile, after the Con-

gresses of Troppau (1820) and Ljubljana (1821), the revolts in Italy, Portugal and Spain

suffered a strong military repression, under the impulsion of Metternich. However, in

Spain the new Constitution of Cadiz (1812) began to be a symbol of progression and

democracy, giving a vast political space to the bourgeois, through the Low Chamber. In

the Thirties, Belgium obtained its independence, and in France the old king, Karl X,

was deposed, in favour of Louis Philippe d’Orleans. The revolts of 1848 were even more

violent and well organized: they interested the most important European countries, as

Great Britain, France, Italy and the German galaxy of States, yet not unified in a unique

political entity (Costa, 2005).

Various States which composed the political mosaic of the pre-united Italy approved

too new Constitutions (as the Sicilian one in 1812): however, especially after the revolts

of 1848, many of them came back to their decisions, and cancelled a great part of the

concessions which had been made. In the Rein of the Two Sicilies, for instance, Ferdi-

nand the 2nd of Bourbon, after having sustained militarily the attempt of the Piedmont

State to fight against the Austrian-Hungary Empire in Lombardy and Veneto, called

back his troops and abolished the Constitution, revoking the Neapolitan Parliament; in

the Vatican State the situation was yet worse than in the South: the Pope went into a

voluntary exile to Gaeta, leaving his State to the Roman people. So, a new Republic was

elected and a new, advances Constitution approved (in July, the 3rd, 1849). French

troops stopped abruptly this experience, supporting the Pope. In Tuscany the situation

was very similar: here too, Leopold the 2nd, the Gran-Duque, left Florence, coming back

only thanks to the militarily intervention of the Austrian troops. The Statute which had

been conceived decayed in 1852.

All these experiences, together with other very similar which was occurring in

Europe, left, as their legacy, the idea that the popular classes (especially the bourgeois)

had the right to actively participate to the political life, promoting a new conception of

citizenship. Nevertheless, for the Italian scenario, these impulses were not sufficient to

L. Bussotti

145

promote a unification under Republican bases: in fact, to think Italy could obtain its

unification through a federal process vanished, so that the only actual alternative was a

process conducted by Savoy’s Royal House, with a very moderate political and constitu-

tional approach (Migliacci, 2011).

The question of citizenship was not one of the first concerns of the new Italian State.

So, the bases of Italian citizenship have to be found in the Civil Code, approved in

1865, after a long work of harmonization of the previous, backward Constitutions of

the different pre-united States (Codice Civile Italiano, 1865). It is here that Italian leg-

islator tries to define the essence of the new Italian citizen: who is he, how can he ac-

quire or lose his citizenship, which laws regulate the relationships between husband and

wife inside family in terms of citizenship and so on (Donati, 2013).

Their key principles were the adoption of

Ius sanguinis

for the determination of citi-

zenship by birth, the uniqueness of Italian citizenship (excluding dual citizenship), the

patrilineal system of transmission, linking wives’ citizenship to their husbands’ citizen-

ship, and finally the freedom of decision regarding which citizenship could be chosen in

the event of conflict between two citizenships. Through these principles, the Italian leg-

islators intended to distinguish “its” citizens from citizens of all other countries. At this

stage, the number of citizens was not as important as the “quality” of the citizens and

their fidelity to the Italian cause.

Law no. 555/1912, the first organic law of Italian citizenship, maintained the same

key principles and contained few modifications in relation to the Civil Code of 1865.

Paradoxically, Law no. 555/1912 was more important for what it did not state than

what it did. At that time, a huge flow of Italians migrated to the Americas, especially the

United States and Argentina. Many of them acquired the citizenship of their hosting

states. Important movements formed of Italian migrants began to make claims in fa-

vour of the dualnationality. The Italian legislators, composed mostly of moderate poli-

ticians and (especially at the Senate) many lawyers, dramatically rejected this proposal

and continued to prefer a “pure” Italian citizen to a “shared” one.

The peace agreements of the First World War complicated the legal landscape de-

picted above because a series of new provisions were inserted in every treaty, starting

with the protection of minorities whose territories had been incorporated for the first

time into Italian territory, as in the case of Alto Adige.

When fascism came to power, its philosophy was completely different from the one

expressed by “liberal Italy” (Romanelli, 1979) and by the peace treaties. Mussolini had a

clear idea of what Italian citizenship should represent: a number, possibly a large one,

in order to challenge other European states on a military field. The minister Rocco pre-

sented a draft law to the Parliament but was unsuccessful. So, the only law on citizen-

ship approved by fascist institutions, therefore, was Royal Decree no. 1997/1934. It was

an extremely simple law comprising only two articles, essentially designed to favour the

acquisition of Italian citizenship by foreigners who were regularly resident in Italy.

Fascism had an important role in the history of Italian citizenship, especially for the

restrictions it imposed on special categories of citizens and the introduction of the

L. Bussotti

146

“colonial right”. In this case, the result was a variety of types of Italian citizenship: co-

lonial citizenship (for Libyan inhabitants), subjects of the Kingdom (for Eritrean and

Somali inhabitants) and Italian citizens in general, with political and racial restrictions.

These restrictions were directed towards political enemies (Law no. 108/1926 and

Royal Decree no. 16/1926) and, in their final stage (Royal Decree no. 1728/1938), Jew-

ish Italian citizens.

This article has four sections: the first analyses the foundation of Italian citizenship;

in the second one, the focus is on Law no. 555/1912; the third section is devoted to the

effects of the post-First World War international treaties on Italian citizenship; in the

last one, particular attention is paid to the new laws fascism introduced to Italian citi-

zenship law.

In terms of methodology, a mixed approach is used: historical reflection prevails,

trying to relate changes in the law to social movements and the debate inside and out-

side the Italian Parliament. The transformations of Italian citizenship law considered

here are framed within a historical and social perspective. This methodology should

make it possible to completely view the evolution of Italian citizenship and its main

steps and innovations.

A last note on concepts: in this article, the terms “citizenship” and “nationality” are

used synonymously, since this distinction was not present in Italian law. The distinc-

tion is only present in the fascist period, since the regime tried to differentiate between

the two legal statuses. No philosophical or sociological references are made to the con-

cept of “citizenship” as formulated, for instance, by Marshall and his commentators.

2. The Foundation of Italian Citizenship: Main Principles and

Problems in the Italian Civil Code (1865)

The first formulation of Italian citizenship law has its roots in the “Italian moderate

revolution” led by Cavour, through which Italy became an independent country in

1861. At the moment of unification, one of the main problems Italy had to tackle was

the question of citizenship.

The configuration of the new state—its principles, its rules, its ways of involving (or

rather, excluding) the masses from political life—responded to conservative ideas (Riall,

1994).

It was difficult to establish who should be considered an Italian citizen. The pre-

united states had their own civil codes with specific laws. There were five main ones at

the time: the Austrian code, approved in 1815, the code of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies

(1819), the Parma code (1820), the Modena code (1831), and finally the Subalpine code

(1837). Tuscany did not have a civil code, since common law prevailed there (Bussotti,

2002). In addition, a framework of decrees, specific laws, and exceptions to the main

rules in all the Italian pre-united states had caused a chaotic situation: weddings, con-

tracts, citizenship, and all the issues related to civil life encountered different regula-

tions in different states. No one could imagine bringing all these legal traditions to-

gether without an enormous effort.

L. Bussotti

147

Therefore, there were two problems related to the question of citizenship: firstly, was

it necessary to put a specific rule in the new Italian Constitution or Statute or was it

enough to insert a rule into the new Civil Code? Secondly, how was Italian citizenship

to be determined?

The first question was resolved by the adoption of the Albertine Statute for the new

Italian Kingdom. This Statute had been approved in 1848 by the Subalpine Kingdom

and signed by King Carlo Alberto of Savoy. The new Italian ruling class (which came

mostly from the Subalpine Kingdom) decided to extend the old Subalpine Statute

across the country.

Nevertheless, citizenship was not one of the issues dealt with by the Civil Code.

There was a section devoted to citizens’ rights and duties, but it did not give any defini-

tion of who was considered Italian. This lacuna needed to be filled. The only legal in-

strument that could do so was a new civil code.

The second question emerged at a time when a vast group of experts began to reflect

on the future civil code of the Italian state. As Bollati showed, the moment in which the

need to define Italian identity arose was the period at the start of the unification process

(Bollati, 1983). Nevertheless, in this case, the choice was completely different from what

had happened in relation to the Statute. A new civil code now had to be written. The

revision of the new Civil Code ended in 1863, when the Minister of Justice of the Italian

Kingdom, Pisanelli, presented the three volumes to the Senate for discussion and ap-

proval (Calcaterra, 1873). His successor, Vacca, found the work and he submitted the

“Pisanelli Code” to Parliament for approval. As he mentioned in his parliamentary re-

port, the new Civil Code needed to respond to the desire for the “full development of

the country’s legal culture” (CD, 1865: p. 6).

The Civil Code of 1865 addressed the topic of citizenship in its first book, “

Delle

Persone

”. In particular, it defined those who should be considered citizens, determining

the conditions for the acquisition and loss of this status. The main issues that found a

solution were the following:

1) The adoption of

Ius sanguinis

citizenship was to be transmitted by the patrilineal

system. Article 1(4) said: “A citizen is the child of a father who is a citizen”. This prin-

ciple could be attenuated through some concessions to

Ius soli

or the mother’s citizen-

ship in some specific cases. These cases included: a) If the father lost his Italian citizen-

ship before the baby was born, while resident abroad: in this case, the new-born could

not be considered Italian. However, if the father was in this situation but the baby was

born in Italy and resided there, then he/she was Italian (Article 5); b) If the father was

unknown and the mother was Italian, the new-born was Italian too. If both parents

were unknown, the

Ius soli

principle substituted the

Ius sanguinis

principle entirely:

those born in Italian territory whose parents’ identity was unknown (namely in the

cases of

damnato coitus

) were Italian (Article 7); c) Those was born in Italy to a foreign

father were considered Italian if the father had resided in Italy for more than 10 years,

and they had the opportunity not to choose Italian citizenship once they reached the

age of majority (Article 8).

L. Bussotti

148

2) The idea of the family as a homogeneous nucleus, in which it was impossible for

members to have different citizenships. In this case, the wife always had to accept the

citizenship of her husband, and the same applied to their children. This is particularly

interesting in relation to the conditions for losing or acquiring Italian citizenship and

when the father recognised paternity with some delay. If the husband and wife came

from different nations, the foreign woman acquired Italian citizenship and kept it even

after the death of her husband (Article 9). Only the children could choose a nationality

that was not Italian when they reached the age of majority. In the case of delayed rec-

ognition of the child by the father, even when the mother had transmitted her national-

ity to her child, the child would lose the mother’s nationality and acquire the father’s

one instead.

3) The exclusivity of Italian citizenship, which made it impossible to have two na-

tionalities. In fact, one of the reasons for losing Italian citizenship was obtaining a dif-

ferent nationality abroad or to have accepted, without the authorisation of the Italian

Government, to work for a foreign state or to have served in the army of a foreign po-

litical power (Article 11). If the head of a family lost his Italian citizenship due to the

above-mentioned reasons, all the other family members had to follow this change. They

could only keep Italian citizenship if they continued to reside in Italy. The exclusivity of

Italian citizenship also applied to reacquisition: in fact, it was possible to reacquire it if

the head of the family gave up his foreign nationality and his work or service in a for-

eign army and established residence in Italy within one year from the declaration made

before an Italian civil servant (Article 13). Similarly, an Italian woman who married a

foreigner became a foreigner when she acquired her husband’s nationality. Once she

had become a widow, she would be able to reacquire Italian nationality if she returned

to Italy within one year. As some scholars pointed out, the condition of woman in Ital-

ian legislation, namely the one related to citizenship and civil and political rights, was

unequal in comparison with the condition of man: only after the Second World War,

with the advent of the Republican regime and a new Constitution (19489, woman will

begin to move the first, meaningful steps for equalizing her rights of citizenship with

the rights of the man (Rossi-Doria, 1996; D’Amelia, 2006).

4) The impossibility of being stateless. As seen in the cases mentioned above, the

Italian Civil Code never allowed people to become stateless. This was relevant for the

nationality of women who had married a foreign man and could therefore lose their

nationality. The Code paid particular attention to ensuring that she would not be left

without any citizenship.

5) The distinction between “lesser” and “greater” or “full” nationality: Article 10 of

the Civil Code distinguished between citizenship “acquired by law” or “by royal decree”

and citizenship acquired “by choice”. For acquisition by law, a “natural” citizen could

enjoy all rights, including political rights; citizens “by choice” were excluded from po-

litical rights.

The approval of Civil Code gave rise many comments, which highlighted the issues

raised. In brief, the following three main points were raised:

L. Bussotti

149

1) The adoption of

Ius sanguinis

reflected the prevalent cultural and political lean-

ings of the time (Salvatorelli, 1975). Leftist tendencies, such as those inspired by Mazz-

ini, defended

Ius sanguinis

because of the importance of the homeland as a bridge be-

tween humanity and individuals. “Without a Homeland (…) you are a bastard of Hu-

manity” (Mazzini, 1860: pp. 51-65). Influenced by Herder, Mazzini and his followers

could not adhere to

Ius soli.

Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, for example, defended the

“right of people” over the right of states, so that there was no space for

Ius soli

(Mancini, 1851: p. 44)

The right-wing or moderate movements shared the same ideas,

accentuating blood rather than cultural factors as the main component for national

unity. Gioberti, the leader of Neo-Guelphism, spoke of an “Italian ancestry bound by

blood, religion, written language” (Gioberti, 1846: pp. 117-118), while a very important

scholar of the period, Sechi, emphasised that nationality was a “matter of race” and that

“the various races are transmitted by blood and do not depend on the case of birth”

(Sechi, 1897-1902: p. 221). The same debate at the Italian Parliament showed that the

defenders of

Ius soli

represented a small minority. In fact, while Pisanelli pointed out

that “race is the primary element of nationality”, the only one who tried to oppose was

Crispi, who took the side of

Ius soli.

For him, “citizenship is given by the land in which

one was born; each individual who was born in the Italian Kingdom is an Italian citi-

zen” (Gianzana, 1888). This idea was used to put forward the medieval position that the

land was the most important link between a nation and its subjects (Borsari, 1871: p.

150). In Italy in the 19th century, the young, new nation had to root itself in the most

physical of elements—blood—and relegate land to a secondary position.

2) The prevalence of the patrilineal system also encountered some opposition. The

debate that took place was between two different philosophical and cultural positions

and had a direct influence on the Civil Code: some defended the unity of family as the

basis of Italian society, the nation and, consequently, citizenship law; others wanted to

radicalise freedom of choice, leaving everyone free to opt for Italian or foreign citizen-

ship regardless of sex. The report to the Senate that accompanied the part of Civil Code

related to citizenship law was clear: “A free homeland wants free children and not ser-

vants (…). Thus (…) the proposal allows for freedom to give up nationality and leave

the homeland for those who have an overbearing need, due to serious incidents or hope

for a better future under another sky” (Gianzana, 1888: p. 165). However, it is easy to

see that this statement contradicted the idea that wives and children automatically fol-

lowed the head of their family’s nationality, excluding any chance to freely choose a

different nationality. In this case too, two opposing positions emerged. In general, the

position of women in Italian culture in the 19th century followed a highly antiquated

model; the legal system was consistent with this conviction. Women were given per-

mission to enter high schools and universities in 1874. Only in 1919 were they given

formal emancipation from their husbands and fathers, with the abolition of marital au-

thorisation to manage their own belongings and testify in a trial. And only in 1922 were

they given the right to vote in local elections, although fascism revoked this right en-

tirely in 1929. The issue that needed to be faced was the following: which principle

L. Bussotti

150

would prevail in citizenship law? The family or the individual? There were a few doubts

in the debate at the Italian Parliament. Once more, representatives of progressive posi-

tions, like Mancini, expressed the same opinions as other, more moderate exponents,

like Ricci. All concluded that the state was “an aggregate of families” and that the rela-

tionship between state and individual was mediated by family (Mancini, 1851; Ricci,

1891). This statement had a direct effect on public rights, since ties had to be founded

on the family and not on individual rights.

3) Italian citizenship had to be exclusive: this meant that dual nationality could not

be permitted. The same ideological apparatus that defended

Ius sanguinis

served to jus-

tify the decision not to accept dual nationality in the Italian Civil Code. When it was

approved, in 1865, the migratory flow from Italy to other countries had not yet reached

significant proportions and, more importantly, it was not considered to be a mass phe-

nomenon. The 1861 general census indicated that consistent groups of Italians could

already be found in France (77,000), Germany and Switzerland (14,000), and in the

major Mediterranean African countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia. There were about 1

million Italian residents in the Americas, half of whom were living in the United States.

Nevertheless, until the 1880s, Italian migration continued to be relatively sporadic and

not systematically organised, with an average flow of around 135,000 people. Between

1887 and 1900, this flow doubled, reaching 269,000 people per year. This new social

situation had an immediate impact on the debate about citizenship. Italian citizens who

lived abroad began to organise associations, and they were particularly active in claim-

ing continued Italian citizenship, even after obtaining the nationality of the host state.

The Italian Civil Code left some ambiguities in relation to the loss of citizenship if a

migrant had obtained the nationality of his/her new state of residence. The individual’s

declaration regarding his/her citizenship always prevailed. Article 11(2) therefore had

to be interpreted correctly. Italian citizenship was lost “by those who had obtained the

citizenship of a foreign country” after moving their residence there. Some interpreted

this article literally: an individual would lose his/her Italian citizenship as soon as an-

other nationality was acquired. Others, however, thought that the interpretation was

not correct, since in some cases attribution of a new nationality was automatic, regard-

less of what the person wanted. In these cases, Italian citizenship should be conserved.

Ambiguities emerged even in cases that appeared to be clearly regulated by the Italian

Civil Code. For instance, it was undisputed that someone who served in a foreign mili-

tary force would lose his Italian nationality. However, if the military service was in the

Civil Guard of the municipality in which the Italian citizen resided, he could avoid los-

ing his original nationality. In light of this, the Supreme Court of Rome issued a judg-

ment in favour of maintaining Italian citizenship, originating a case of dual nationality

(Appello Roma, 1877: p. 304). Some, considering the new social situation, began to re-

flect on how this contradiction could be solved. Esperson, for example, pointed out that

the adoption of

Ius sanguinis

created an irreconcilable contrast with the adoption of a

pure

Ius soli

principle by several American countries where many Italians lived (Esper-

son, 1883). These ambiguities reinforced the pressure that Italian migrant organisations

L. Bussotti

151

were placing on the principle of uniqueness of citizenship. During the First Congress of

the Italian Expatriates, in 1908, organised by the Italian Colonial Institute (ICI),

founded in 1905, this issue emerged with full force. Senator Giacomo De Martino, one

of the founders of the ICI and President of the 1908 Congress, declared that the Italian

state had to stop being an “almost passive spectator” of migratory flows and reach out

to “our brothers who are losing their nationality” (ICI, 1908: p. 11). De Martino did not

put forward any concrete proposals but he clearly stated that dual citizenship had to be

introduced into Italian law. De Martino was a nationalist and colonialist and, unlike

Professor Buzzati, a democrat. He formulated a more explicit proposal in favour of in-

stituting dual citizenship (Idem). A very similar position was defended by a moderate

advocate, Valli, during the Congress of the Dante Alighieri Association, in 1909.He

tried to distinguish between nationality (the original “ethnic” citizenship that belonged

to the individual) and citizenship (a transitory condition, which the individual would

lose when he decided to return to his homeland) (Società Dante Alighieri, 1909). In

1910, the Minister of Grace, Justice and Religion, Scjaiola, presented a new, organic

proposal for reforming citizenship law. The historical and social context seemed fa-

vourable to introducing significant innovations in relation to the old law. Many people,

however, including the Italian expatriates and their organisations, were disappointed by

the measures adopted.

3. The New Law of Citizenship (Law no. 555/1912)

The law on citizenship was reformed in 1912.Before the new law was approved, two

others had been passed by Italian Parliament regarding the same issue: Law no. 23/1901

and Law no. 217/1906.

What were the innovations introduced by these two laws? Law no. 23/1901 partially

reformed the Civil Code from two perspectives: it suspended the obligation to perform

military service if the Italian citizen resided abroad and had left Italy before turning 16.

The only exceptions were calls to arms due to a risk of war (Chapter 4,

Disposizioni

speciali sul servizio militare e sulla cittadinanza

). The second modification concerned

the abolition of Article 11(3) of the Civil Code. In this case, Italian citizens resident

abroad could now work for the state in which they lived without losing their original

nationality.

Law no. 217/1906, presented by Sonnino (CD, 1905), tackled just one issue: the

naturalisation of foreign citizens who resided in Italy and requested Italian citizenship.

Once more, the historical context was decisive, since the strictness of Italian law had

allowed fewer than 20 naturalisations in 44 years. Italy was therefore losing its citizens

who expatriated and was unable to acquire foreign residents living in its territory. Be-

cause of this paradoxical situation, Sonnino put forward this draft law, which consisted

of only three articles, all about the acquisition of Italian citizenship. In order to be

naturalised, the following conditions had to be met: a favourable opinion from the

Council of State; six years of residence in Italian territory or four years of service to

Italian State; to have married an Italian woman or to have made special services to Italian

L. Bussotti

152

State. The only limitation was that the naturalised citizen could not be elected to either

of the two Italian chambers for six years following acquisition of the new nationality.

These partial modifications did not significantly alter the philosophy with which the

Italian law on citizenship had been inserted into the Civil Code. What about the new

organic law on citizenship, which was approved in 1912?

The Scialoja Report submitted to the Italian Senate explained the Government’s ob-

jectives regarding this issue: “1) to attenuate the international conflicts of law (…); 2) to

ensure that the right determined by citizenship responds, normally, to the status quo

determined by the current subjection of the individual to the state in which he resides

(…); 3) to treat family relationships with the utmost care (…); 4) to allow every defini-

tive change in the state of citizenship to be voluntarily made by the individual” (SR,

1910: p. 4). Scialoja pointed out that the reform of Italian citizenship was necessary due

to an important phenomenon that was almost unknown when the Civil Code had been

approved in 1865: migration. In addition, systematisation was needed because of the

fragmentation of legislation and the confusion it brought about caused by the many

laws that were involved in citizenship. A new philosophy of law was expressed by Scia-

loja: if the Civil Code was designed for a nation still under construction, and conse-

quently with an “autarchic” vision in mind, it was now necessary to open new perspec-

tives, especially towards international law. In fact, Italy was trying to sign agreements

with the states that had numerous Italian migrants, but it was proving to be a very dif-

ficult exercise. The new Italian law on citizenship had to consider this new factor,

adapting its law to the new international conditions. This would have been absolutely

unthinkable only 50 years before. Nevertheless, those who were born abroad to Italian

parents and continued to reside abroad would have lost immediately their Italian citi-

zenship, which would have been recovered once they reached the age of majority, pro-

vided that they resided in Italy.

In any case, there were many significant difficulties, since most Italian MPs and

senators were anchored to Cicero’s formula

Nemo duarum civitatum civis esse potest

which excluded

a priori

the explicit adoption of dual nationality. Scialoja tried to medi-

ate these ideological positions with actual needs to give effective answers to the claims

made by the Italian expatriate associations, which did not want expatriates to lose their

original nationality.

Government instability and growing difficulties in finding an agreement on the dif-

ferent points of the law caused a delay in the discussion of the Scialoja draft law.

One-and-a-half years later, the debate on the citizenship law at the Senate took place.

The political scenario had changed: the new minister, Finocchiaro Aprile, had ideas

that were partially different from Scialoja’s views, as did the law rapporteur, Senator

Polacco. The new draft law intended to maintain Italian citizenship for Italian citizens

and their descendants living abroad, including in those cases that the Scialoja draft pro-

vided for the loss of this condition.

The gap between the traditional doctrine—which fitted well with the positions of the

moderates and nationalists and was prevalent in Italian Parliament—and the social

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reality at the time was notable in the speech made by the MP Fusinato at the

Camera

dei Deputati

. Speaking on behalf of the Italian expatriates, he criticised the short-

sightedness shown by the Government and the majority of his colleagues. He pointed

out that the institution of dual nationality, which had been rejected, should be thought

of as “an unhappy expression (…) but a trend that is right, in my opinion” (CD, 1912).

His concerns for the Italian expatriates were shared by Cabrini, a prominent exponent

of the Socialist Party. In any case, the conservative and nationalist majority at the Par-

liament frustrated every attempt to change the original text.

The new Italian law on citizenship (Law no. 555) was approved in 1912. Its key prin-

ciples can be summarised as follows: the criteria for acquiring Italian citizenship were

similar to those in the Civil Code, with some modifications. First of all,

Ius sanguinis

and the patrilineal system were maintained. According to Article 1, an individual was a

citizen by birth if the father was Italian; if the mother was Italian and the father was

unknown or did not have Italian citizenship or any other citizenship; if the father could

not transmit his citizenship to his children; if the individual was born in Italian terri-

tory and both the parents were unknown or did not have Italian citizenship or citizen-

ship of another state or if the parents did not transmit their citizenship to their chil-

dren. Citizenship could be acquired by foreigners born in Italy or those whose parents

had resided there for the preceding 10 years, if they had served the Italian army or had

accepted a public job; if they were resident in Italy at the time of their 21st birthday and

declared their desire to obtain Italian nationality before their 22nd birthday; if they had

resided in Italian territory for at least 10 years and did not declare that they wanted to

conserve their foreign citizenship before their 21st birthday. Italian citizenship could be

obtained by Royal Decree by any foreigner that had: provided services to the Italian

state for at least three years; resided in Italy for the last five years; resided in Italy for the

last 2 years and rendered special services to Italy or married an Italian woman; resided

in Italy for the last 6 months, for those who could choose Italian citizenship but had

failed to do so. A new citizen could enjoy all rights, including political rights.

The other pillar of the new law was the impossibility of having two nationalities. Ital-

ian citizenship was therefore lost by those who voluntarily acquired a different nation-

ality and moved their residence abroad. It was also lost by those who did not voluntar-

ily acquire a foreign nationality but declared that they renounced their Italian citizen-

ship and moved their residence abroad. Finally, those who worked for a foreign state or

performed military service for a foreign state after being notified by the Italian authori-

ties to cease this activity would also lose their citizenship.

Women continued to be subjugated to their husbands. In fact, since the family had to

remain united, the woman always had to follow her husband’s nationality, even if he

changed it to become a foreigner. An Italian woman who got married to a foreigner

would lose her original nationality. Only in the case of the legal separation of spouses

without children could the wife choose to keep her original citizenship (Article 11). If

the father recognised his child after the mother, the child would acquire his father’s

citizenship; if their child was already an adult, he/she could—within a year—chose

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154

his/her mother’s nationality (Article 2).

What conclusion is it possible to make in relation to this new law? The debate that

occurred immediately after it was passed revealed a clear characteristic: ideologically,

the prevalence of nationalism had emerged, to the detriment of a more objective analy-

sis of social reality. Migration and the events organised by the Italian expatriate associa-

tions had not been enough to substantially change or alter the logic of uniqueness of

citizenship; the first struggles of women and their incipient movements had not been

regarded as important enough to dictate a modification to the patrilineal system, de-

spite the rare exceptions that Law no. 555 introduced, particularly related to the legal

separation of spouses without children. It is worth noting that the Italian legal system

did not have a law on legal separation or divorce at the time, so this case partially con-

tradicts Italian law. Once again, the principle of the family unit prevailed over wives’

free choice to determine their citizenship. What Law no. 555 tried to attenuate were

cases of statelessness, giving Italian citizenship to all people who were born in Italy to

unknown parents (which meant applying

Ius soli

in exceptional cases). Also, when an

Italian citizen decided to reside abroad or work for a foreign state, the new law cor-

rected the provisions of the Civil Code, according to which the loss of original citizen-

ship was immediate. Now, the Italian state had to warn its citizens, drawing their atten-

tion in order to prevent them from losing their original nationality. In addition, the

new law abolished the distinction between greater (or full) and lesser citizenship, and

made the rights of natural and naturalised citizens the same, especially in terms of po-

litical rights. Finally, there was a wide gap between the ideology and doctrine used by

the Italian Parliament: the social trends and movements that were running through

Italian society and politics at the time had no influence on the text of the law. An at-

tenuation of these key principles could be seen in the sense that Italian law on citizen-

ship now expressed a more open trend towards keeping its citizens, as in the case of loss

of nationality (Article 8). According to this article, only Italian citizens who had volun-

tarily requested foreign nationality and who lived and worked abroad would lose their

original citizenship. Automatic mechanisms of loss of citizenship were overcome by the

new law, revising the provisions of the Civil Code. It can be considered one of the ac-

tual (and very timid) responses by the Italian legal system to the phenomenon of the

massive loss of Italian nationality by many migrants.

One of the biggest critics of the new law was Buzzati. As an advocate of the institu-

tion of dual citizenship, he demonstrated the contradictions of Law no. 555 on the

matter. The law, in spite of its firm principle of uniqueness of citizenship, caused sev-

eral cases of dual nationality. Buzzati remembered the irreconcilable conflict between

migration and the adoption of

Ius sanguinis

as the main regulatory principle of nation-

ality. In his opinion, Italian migrants had to be recognised as citizens of their host state

but at the same time they had to maintain a link with Italy not only through a spiritual

bond but also through the only possible legal instrument, Italian citizenship (Buzzati,

1916). He showed that dual citizenship, which Italian legislators refused to adopt ex-

plicitly, existed

de facto

in Law no. 555/1912. Among the different circumstances, he

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155

remembered Article 2(2), which originated cases of dual nationality for minors if rec-

ognition of an Italian father occurred after recognition of a foreign mother. The minor

did not lose the mother’s citizenship but acquired the father’s nationality and would

have dual citizenship. However, the fulcrum of the debate on this subject was Article 8,

which was related to the loss of citizenship. Buzzati considered the new provision ac-

cording to which an Italian citizen working for a foreign state and resident abroad

would not automatically lose Italian citizenship. In his opinion, this reform of Article

11 of the Civil Code protected against cases of statelessness and created many individu-

als with dual nationality. In fact, according to Article 8 of Law no. 555/1912, people

would have to voluntarily acquire another nationality to lose their Italian citizenship.

This meant implicitly allowing dual nationality, with Buzzati’s complacency (Idem).

The same position was expressed by other commentators, including De Dominicis (De

Dominicis, 1916).

On the other side, conservative commentators defended the new law. Gemma, for

instance, rejected all the arguments used to justify the adoption of the institution of

dual citizenship in the Italian legal system. First of all, Italian migrants had to reject the

acquisition of a foreign citizenship, since their participation in public life of the host

state was not as important; secondly, he considered the infringement of the principle of

Ius sanguinis

to be heresy,

so the law could not subjugate its philosophy to social needs

but rather to contingent needs (Gemma, 1923).

Degni also defended the principle of adopting

Ius sanguinis

and the uniqueness of

citizenship but admitted that cases of dual citizenship could arise involuntarily (Degni,

1921).

The other great debate after the approval of Law no. 555/1912 concerned the condi-

tion of wives in relation to their husbands.

In this case, the positions were more connected than for the principle of uniqueness

of nationality. Conservative commentators, like Gemma and Degni, also raised some

doubts. In fact, while it is true that the main principle had to be the family unit, there

was some reserve about the excessively passive role of wives in relation to their hus-

bands.

The debate was essentially focused on a change to the husband’s citizenship. Degni,

for example, stressed that it was impossible to derogate the “supreme necessity of unity

in the constitution of a family”, including in the legal separation of spouses, since this

condition could be reversed for a return to marriage (Degni, 1921: pp. 161-162). This

meant that wives had to assume their husbands’ nationality in every case. The problem

arose when a foreign husband decided to change his nationality. Based on the principle

of family unity, his wife had to follow his nationality; Degni admitted, however, that

there was an exception. He spoke of an “impairment of the wife’s personality”, theoris-

ing that the wife could avoid following her husband’s nationality once he moved abroad

and that she could maintain her original nationality but it would violate the key principle

of family unity (Degni, 1921: p. 162). As an alternative to this radical position, Degni

introduced the possibility of the wife following her husband but left her the chance to

L. Bussotti

156

conserve her original citizenship. In this case too it is not difficult to see a potentially

major conflict with the key principle of uniqueness of citizenship: in fact, while conser-

vative positions like the one expressed by Degni made a strict connection between na-

tionality and citizenship, in this case the tie would be broken. Furthermore, the wife

could acquire her husband’s nationality but if she declared that she wished maintain

her original nationality, she would become automatically a citizen with dual nationality.

The same difficulties can be seen when analysing Gemma’s position. He also thought

it was necessary to soften the principle of family unity by including the principle of the

wife’s wishes. He concluded as follows: “the legislator did not want to state (because it

would be excessive) that she too had to coercively follow all of her husband’s changes of

nationality; he just wanted to state the principle that women cannot, through an act of

her own initiative, break the marital family unit, which could cause very serious con-

flicts in some situations” (Gemma, 1923: pp. 84-85). Gemma concluded by pointing out

that it was necessary to choose the lesser of two evils, i.e. the wife would lose Italian

citizenship if she decided to marry a foreigner rather than breaking family unity.

A last, relevant subject concerned the political rights of naturalised Italians. As ex-

plained above, Law no. 555/1912 abolished the differentiation between “greater” and

“lesser” nationality. Only 17 days after Law no. 555 was approved, a new electoral law

was passed. Law no. 665/1912,

Sulla riforma dellalegge elettorale politica

, contained

many articles but just two were strictly related to citizenship: Article1 stated that elec-

tors had to enjoy the civil and political rights of the Kingdom. Individuals who had ob-

tained Italian nationality through a Royal Decree now became electors too. The same

was true for elections for the lower chamber (

Camera dei Deputati

). However, in these

two cases, Law no. 665 referred to the citizenship law of 1906 and not to the law of

1912, which caused serious legal interpretation issues. In fact, the two laws differed due

to the acquisition of electoral rights by naturalised Italians. Careful commentators

stressed this problem and pointed out that Law no. 665 mentioned an abrogated rule

and not the one in force at the time (Diena, 1912). This meant that naturalised citizens

were prohibited from being elected to the lower chamber and had stricter conditions

for being electors. Diena proposed the approval of an

ad hoc

law to correct the mistake,

which would have seriously penalised a group of people who should have been consid-

ered to be fully Italian.

A definitive way of interpreting this dilemma was given by Esperson. As explained by

Diena, the problem was circumscribed to the electoral rights of naturalised people. In

this case, Esperson assumed that the Italian Parliament (namely, the Senate) voluntarily

approved the new electoral law knowing that a new citizenship law had already been

passed. In fact, the

Camera dei Deputati

approved the draft electoral law in May 1912.

The Italian citizenship law was, at the time, Law no. 217/1906, so the only possible ref-

erence should have been to this law. The Senate began its discussion of the new elec-

toral law on 24 June 1912 and it concluded five days later, i.e. 16 days after the approval

of Law no. 555. The Senate had the time to change this obsolete reference and introduce

the correct one. But it decided not to do so. Why not? According to Esperson, it was

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157

because of pressure exerted by the Prime Minister, Giolitti, on the Senate. He wanted

the electoral law to be passed quickly, and thought that the above-mentioned mistake

should be overcome

ipso iure

because Law no. 217/1906 had been replaced by Law no.

555/1912 (Esperson, 1913). Finally, the reference to the old law was not completely

pointless. The Royal Decree of 2 August 1912 stated that (Article 10) requests for the

acquisition of Italian citizenship presented before 1 July 1912 had to follow the process

and provisions of the laws approved before no. 555/1912. Law no. 217/1906 therefore

ended when it was replaced by Law no. 555, even though it was limited to requests for

naturalisation submitted before 1 July 1912 (RD 949/1912).

The approval of the new citizenship law in 1912 must be considered an important

step in the construction of the Italian concept of nationality. In fact, a continuation can

be clearly seen from the Civil Code of 1865 to the new Law no. 555. This continuity can

be explained through the proximity of the Italian legislators’ political tendencies in the

two periods considered here. A conservative point of view in relation to social, eco-

nomic and cultural phenomena was common in the Italian ruling classes. Moreover, in

the latter period, waves of nationalism and colonialism (the colonisation of Libya began

in 1911), which were spreading in Italy, together with aggressive political movements,

were strengthening the ideological bases of the traditional principles of nationality. Fas-

cism merged all of them and removed any possibility of democratic debate and discus-

sion, including discussion of Italian citizenship.

4. Italian Citizenship between the First World War and the Peace

Treaties: A Brief Overview (1914-1920)

After the approval of Law no. 555/1912, the gap between the political class and some

significant social movements became very wide. As shown above, the main issues had

not been solved by the Italian Parliament.

With the First World War and its related treaties, the focus centred on issues closely

connected to the treatment of “new” Italians in the annexed territories, such as Alto

Adige, and the protection of Italian minorities, especially those living in Dalmatia, a re-

gion of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

There were two issues during the First World War that dealt with the question of na-

tionality and caught the attention of Italian legislators. Firstly, there was the issue of

“

Italiani non regnicoli

” (“Italians not belonging to the Kingdom”, henceforth INR).

This topic had been relatively important before the political unification of the penin-

sula. The Savoy state had approved its electoral law (Royal Edict no. 680/1848), which

gave INR the right to vote because they had “lesser” nationality. This feature was main-

tained in successive electoral laws and the Civil Code of 1865 rejected the differentia-

tion between Italians and INR. The electoral law of 22/11/1908 made the same decision,

with the only limitation that INR were not eligible for the position of mayor. Although

many special INR rights had been recognised, they could not be compared to those en-

joyed by Italian citizens (BUFARDECI, 1923). This conclusion caused a certain concern

among Italian politicians, who had a tendency to absorb INR into the wider Italian

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158

family, for comprehensible reasons related to the war.

The second issue faced throughout the First World War consisted of a series of pro-

visions designed to impede Italian citizens from doing business and trading with citi-

zens of belligerent states, in particular the Austro-Hungarian Empire. An apparently

secondary issue was actually particularly important. Lieutenant Decree no. 920/1915

(

Prohibition

in the Kingdom

of real estate sales and other operations with subjects of

the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the war

) raised—maybe involuntarily—a very

important question: for the first time, Italian law proposed an equal footing, in terms of

nationality, for individuals and commercial entities. In addition, it distinguished be-

tween “nationality” and “citizenship”. The case that caused a heated debate was rooted

in the request by two companies based in Trieste (General Insurance and the Adriatic

Union of Security) to be certified as Italian by the Government of Rome. Trieste was, at

that time, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The issue that this request raised was

whether a company based in a foreign territory could be considered Italian, in terms of

nationality, as Buzzati pointed out (Buzzati, 1916). The first point was whether or not it

was possible to talk about nationality for a company; it seemed that it was, based on Ar-

ticle 230 of the Italian Commercial Code and an international debate had also con-

cluded that it was possible (Segrè, 1918). The second issue was yet more problematic. In

this case, Buzzati expressed an opinion that was clearly influenced by the climate of war

at the time. In fact, he stressed that a series of reasons made it possible to conclude that

the two companies should be considered as Italian. Firstly, because of the permanent

location of their head offices in Trieste, a town which symbolised an “Italian Sea”, the

Adriatic; secondly, their articles of association were written in Italian; thirdly, although

they were dominated by Austria, but this did not mean that they wanted to be part of it.

Therefore, when Italian Government granted Italian citizenship to these two compa-

nies, the distinction between nationality and citizenship became effective for the first

time in Italian law. Confirmation came in the form of another Lieutenant Decree, no.

1829/1918, in which Italian legislators excluded—also for the first time—the prohibi-

tion of all subjects or entities that had Austrian nationality but Italian citizenship,

which had been established in the preceding Decree no. 920/1915.

As a consequence of the end of the war, several treaties were signed between the dif-

ferent states. The two most important treaties for Italy were the Treaty of Saint-

Germain-en-Laye, signed on 10/09/1919 by almost 20 states, among which Italy and

Austria, and the Treaty of Rapallo, signed by Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats

and Slovenes on 12/11/1920.

The Treaty of St. Germain dealt with the question of citizenship in two sections, sec-

tion V,

Protection des Minorités

under the supervision of the League of Nations, and

section VI,

Clauses concernants la nationalité.

For Italy, these clauses meant that Alto

Adige passed to the peninsula and that its inhabitants became Italians, losing their

Austrian citizenship. Nonetheless, not all these people automatically acquired Italian

citizenship: the rule could not be applied to those who were not born in those territo-

ries or those who had acquired Italian citizenship before 24 May 1915 (the date on

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159

which Italy entered the conflict) or those who did it “

seulement en raison de leur posi-

tion officielle

”. Nevertheless, it was possible for them and those who had joined the

Italian army during the war to request Italian citizenship. In every case, the choice of

one of the two citizenships involved moving residence—within a year—to the relevant

country. Wives always had to follow their husbands’ decisions.

The Treaty of Rapallo was characterised by the strategy of friendship promoted by

Giolitti in Italian relations with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Zara be-

came Italian, unlike Dalmatia and Fiume (which had independent status); a few groups

of Adriatic isles became Italian, while all the others joined the new Kingdom of Serbs,

Croats and Slovenes. Article 7 of the treaty was devoted to citizenship: it stated that

Italian citizens and companies in Dalmatia had to be protected and should maintain

their business and activities. It also declared that members of the Italian minority living

in the territory that now belonged to the new Kingdom and had previously belonged to

the Austro-Hungarian Empire could opt for Italian citizenship. Finally, the new King-

dom recognised Italian degrees, while Treaty introduced a new agreement for recogni-

tion the other way round.

The Italian Parliament approved the two treaties but the debate introduced a new

atmosphere. A new political party, the Nationalists, began to explore the question of

nationality as its key issue. Colonna di Cesarò, a nobleman, pointed out that Dalmatia,

which had been left to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was “one of the

purest and most glorious branches of our people” and that it had now been left “with-

out defences or guarantees”; his colleague Benelli spoke of “the fear of barbarian slav-

ery” (CD, 1920).

Times were changing and the ideology of an extreme nationalism, together with the

idea of the “mutilated victory” of the First World War, was rapidly spreading through-

out Italian institutions. When the new spirit of nationalism encountered the violence of

fascism, a new warlord was appointed: Benito Mussolini.

5. Citizenship Law during Fascism (1922-1943)

When fascism came into power, following a coup d’état (the March on Rome, 1922), an

enormous ideological apparatus had been designed to give an effective response to the

popular calls for greater dignity for Italy in the international landscape.

In fascist ideology, the theme of nation and nationality was one of the most impor-

tant. In the first fascist period, some intellectuals formulated the bases for defining a

clear concept of “Italianness”. Grandi, for instance, one of the most prominent fascist

personalities, wrote that interest should be restricted to the nation (Grandi, 1922), while

the philosopher Gentile wrote that war was the only occasion “to cement this nation in

blood, as it had been formed more by chance than thanks to the values of its children”

(Gentile, 1925). Consequently, the idea that fascism promoted regarding citizenship

was quantitative: increasing the number of Italian citizens meant forcing the rules that

were in force at the time. However, there was also a qualitative aspect promoted by fas-

cism: the identification of Italian citizenship with fascism. For this reason, those who

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160

were not fascist could not be Italian (De Felice, 1981: pp. 292-293).

With these ideological convictions, some could think that the issue of citizenship was

foremost in the concerns of fascist politics. In truth, the regime led by Mussolini never

passed an organic law on citizenship. The only attempt to do so was carried out by the

Minister of Justice, Rocco, in 1930, but the Parliament never approved his draft law.

A brief summary of the provisions fascism approved regarding citizenship follows:

1) In order to increase the number of Italian citizens, fascism passed the Royal De-

cree of 29/01/1922 (RD 43/1922). It stated that for citizens belonging to the territories

annexed by the war, the declaration to acquire Italian citizenship would be delayed by

approximately one year from the original date (13/07/1921). The Royal Decree of

18/11/1922 simplified the procedures for obtaining Italian citizenship (the opinion of

the Council of State was no longer mandatory, as established by Law no. 555/1912) for

those who had Italian parents, had lost their original citizenship and wanted to reac-

quire it, even if they were not resident in Italy (RD 1655/1922). This category of new

citizens could not serve in the Italian army or vote, and therefore the institution of

“lesser citizenship” returned. Some observed that the new demands related to the war

had forced the Government to reintroduce this differentiation, which was not flawless

from a legal point of view (Giannini, 1935). Royal Decree no. 1997/1934 replaced Arti-

cle 4 of Law no. 555/1912, in that the opinion of the Council of State was no longer

mandatory to grant Italian citizenship. It also reduced the term for obtaining Italian

citizenship for foreigners residing in Italian territory who had provided special services

to Italian state or married an Italian woman from 3 years to 2 years. Immediately, a

large portion of legal doctrine aligned its positions to the new fascist philosophy: the

fact that the Council of State had to give an opinion contrasted with “the concept of the

functions of the Government according to the political doctrine of fascism” (Lampis,

1935: p. 310). Government discretion therefore began to constitute the main criterion

for granting Italian citizenship, which was a tendency that had been clearly expressed

by the draft law submitted by Rocco in 1930. Here, the pillars for determining Italian

citizenship remained anchored to the tradition of local law: the adoption of

Ius san-

guinis

the uniqueness of Italian citizenship, the emphasis on the patrilineal system

(even an individual recognised by his father as an adult had to follow his citizenship

and would lose his mother’s citizenship), easing the process of a foreign resident ac-

quiring Italian citizenship, impediments to renouncing Italian citizenship—which

made the explicit desire of the applicant, formal authorisation from the Government

and the effective choice to reside abroad compulsory conditions—the maintenance of

Italian citizenship for minors whose fathers changed their citizenship. As the minister

Rocco eagerly explained, the principle that guided the proposal was the “defence of

Italian citizenship”, in which the Government played a prominent role in determining

the acquisition and, particularly, the loss thereof (SR, 1930). However, the most ex-

planatory words came from a legal expert who had a clear memory of the most impor-

tant debates on citizenship inside and outside the Parliament. Baccelli, the law rappor-

teur, emphasised the continuity that the principles of the new draft law represented for

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161

the clauses of Law no. 555/1912 and pointed out the reasons why the legislators were

putting forward some significant modifications. The modifications can be justified by

the historical period in which the draft law had been presented: war and international

competition between states had stimulated the importance of demographics in deter-

mining citizenship law. He concluded as follows: “power is strength and strength is, to

a great extent, in numbers” (SR, 1933). In relation to dual citizenship, Baccelli claimed

that the interests of the nation had to prevail over those of the individual, so that it was

impossible to speak of dual citizenship, but rather of citizenship “contended between

two national units or states” (Idem). These principles, as mentioned above, were not

introduced in an organic law, and only the small modifications mentioned above were

introduced by fascism in relation to citizenship law.

2) In order to limit the rights of citizenship for some special categories of citizens,

fascism approved the following laws: at the start of its political trajectory, Law no.

108/1926 and Royal Decree no. 19/1926. Both these laws dealt with limitations to citi-

zenship rights for political enemies, leaving broad freedom of decision for the Govern-

ment. Italian citizenship could be revoked if an Italian citizen committed an act abroad

that dishonoured the good name of the country, even if it was not a crime. Italian citi-

zenship could be revoked also for citizens who had acquired it if their political behav-

iour was “unworthy”. At the end of its political journey, fascism adopted laws that were

openly against the Jews. Influenced by Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini imposed, through

the Royal Decree no. 1728/1938, the introduction of the concept of the “Aryan race”,

which was completely alien to Italian legal tradition. A citizen of “Jewish race” could

not marry any Italian citizen of another race or (Article 2) any foreign citizen unless the

Minister of Internal Affairs gave his authorisation. Jewish Italian citizens could not be

appointed guardians of minors or disabled people of other races, nor serve in the na-

tional army. In addition, they could not manage companies that dealt with issues re-

lated to national security, own land worth more than 5000 lire or buildings with a tax-

able value of more than 20,000 lire. If the children of Jewish parents joined another re-

ligion, the state could remove their parental authority. Jewish Italian citizens could not

ever serve the state. While this was the most controversial legal measure adopted by

fascism, another provision emerged following pressure from Hitler. In 1939, Hitler and

Mussolini signed an agreement on the citizenship of the German-speaking people living

in Alto Adige, a region that had been annexed to Italy after the end of the First World

War. The agreement stated that the Italian Government would facilitate the choice of

German citizenship for those people who demonstrated this desire. This measure went

against all the propagandistic ideas that Mussolini had spread about increasing the

number of Italian citizens.

3) Finally, the other important contribution of fascism to citizenship law was the in-

troduction of different levels of citizenship according to colonial law. Before fascism,

three Royal Decrees had been issued to regulate the relationships between citizens and

subjects (RD no. 315/1913,

Sulla sudditanza

; RD no. 931/1919,

Sulla cittadinanza e il

governo della Tripolitania

); RD no. 2401/1919 (

Sulla cittadinanza e il governo della

L. Bussotti

162

Cirenaica

). Fascism approved laws to organise all these aspects related to citizenship

and the rights of the new Italian colonised people in a more organic way. Law no. 1013/

1927,

Legge organica per l

’

amministrazione della Tripolitania e della Cirenaica

defined

Libyan citizenship as citizenship transmitted from a Libyan father (or mother if the fa-

ther was unknown), who was born in Libya, regardless of place of residence, on the

condition that the person was not an Italian citizen and did not have foreign citizen-

ship. Libyan Italian citizens could acquire Italian citizenship once they reached the age

of 21, provided that they had not committed polygamy, had no convictions for political

crimes, had attended at least the 3rd year of Italian school, and were loyal to Italy. RD

no. 1146/1932 forced Italian Libyan citizens aged 16 to 60 to serve in the national army

if it was mobilised for war. Law no. 999/1933 established the same provisions for Eri-

trean and Somali subjects but without the many prerogatives reserved for Italian Libyan

citizens (Monaco, 1937). In coherence with the law for the defence of Aryan race, RD no.

70/1939 impeded marriage between Italian citizens and Italian subjects, with a sentence

of up to 5 years’ imprisonment for Italians who disrespected this law. A special Libyan

Italian citizenship was established for Muslim subjects.

At the end of fascism, the types of citizenship were: a) Mainland citizenship, but with

“lesser” citizenship for foreign residents who had acquired Italian citizenship and the

political and racial limitations described above for some special categories of citizens; b)

Libyan Italian citizens; c) Libyan Italian Muslim citizens; d) Italian subjects, reserved

for the colonised people of Eritrea and Somalia.

This inextricable jumble of different types of citizenship demonstrates the great con-

fusion with which fascism dealt with such an important matter. In fact, despite the

ideological declarations, no organic law on citizenship was approved by Mussolini’s re-

gime. Furthermore, the issue was approached in contingent situations, which had the

immediate consequence of completely distorting the most elementary principles of

public law, at least the principles of Italian legal tradition. It was the war that first

guided the approval of new laws, emphasising a demographic philosophy, then political

domestic battles against opponents that had to be silenced, then management of the

colonial situation, and later the urgent request received from Germany to establish a

new concept of “Aryan race” and, hence, to draw up special measures for inferior civi-

lisations, such as the Jewish and Muslim ones. Finally, another demand came from Hit-

ler to favour the loss of Italian citizenship for German minorities living in Italian terri-

tory, belying all the nationalist rhetoric that characterised fascist discourse (rather than

legal measures) on citizenship.

This is the scenario that the new Italian constituents found in the aftermath of the

fall of fascism. Their task was very difficult: they had to re-establish a legal rationale and

coherence in the citizenship law. A new era was beginning, so the fascist provisions had

to be considered completely null. New work had to begin.

6. Conclusion

This article aimed to show how Italian citizenship law changed during the monarchic

L. Bussotti

163

era, a long and intense period in the country’s history as in all of the other European

states. Using a mixed research methodology, the article attempted to connect the

transformations in Italian citizenship from a legal point of view with what was hap-

pening in the Italian political and social scenario. Finally, a relatively exhaustive

framework emerged.

The key historical subdivision into two sub-periods, before and after the advent of

fascism, showed that, in this specific case, it is impossible to observe correspondence in

the development of Italian citizenship, at least for the most important aspects of the is-

sue. In fact, the base formed by the principles established in the Italian Civil Code of

1865, and confirmed—with a few innovations—by Law no. 555/1912 and other less

important provisions, presents a continuation of fascism ideology and decisions.

Throughout the liberal era, especially from the end of the 19th century, social move-

ments began to pressure the Italian Government and Parliament to change citizenship

law, bearing in mind the cases of women and expatriate associations. This was a situa-

tion in which women had to renounce their nationality to follow their husbands’ in the

name of preserving family unity. It was less acceptable still that Italian expatriates had

to lose their nationality when they acquired the nationality of the state in which they

were living and working.

Before this situation, the Italian legislators were indifferent and considered fidelity to

the original principles established in Civil Code of 1865 to be more important than rapid

social and cultural transformations. The gap between the political and legal elite—

which were the same, to a large extent—and Italian society remained constant through-

out the liberal era. The history of citizenship represents just one of the many examples

that confirm it.

With the First World War, this gap increased: the political problems of a “mutilated

victory” fitted with serious social troubles that the liberal elite that had managed Italy

since its independence was unable to face. When fascism violently took over leadership

of the country, its ideology was extremely nationalist and intolerant of its political ene-

mies.

The first laws on citizenship in the fascist era aimed to limit some fundamental rights

for special categories of citizens, namely political dissidents. However, the question of

citizenship never appeared to be prominent in Mussolini’s agenda. Or rather, Mussolini

tried to establish a concept of citizenship based on the strength of numbers, so, in his

opinion, it was a contradiction to lose millions of Italians who lived abroad simply to

maintain erudite fidelity to the doctrine. In addition to the definition of the new Italian

as fascist, it was necessary to recover compatriots living abroad and dispute their citi-

zenship with other states. Without succumbing to the idea of introducing the principle

of dual citizenship into Italian law, he wished to accentuate the criterion of

Ius san-

guinis

straining the most elementary rules of Italian public law.

This was the path that the minister Rocco tried to follow in 1930 with his draft law.

Nevertheless, the only law coherent with the fascist doctrine of citizenship was passed

in 1934 and it was certainly not an organic law.

L. Bussotti

164

After the second half of the 1930s, fascism began to deal with the question of citi-

zenship erratically and on the basis of contingency. The colonial experience in the Horn

of Africa, together with the military alliance with Hitler, caused two different and con-

tradictory scenarios: the already complicated citizenship law of the ancient colonies

(Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, the two regional subdivisions of Italian Libya) became

even more abstruse for the racist provisions that Mussolini adopted against Muslim

people and the “new colonisers” of the Horn of Africa; he issued special rules for Jewish

Italian people, taking away many of their fundamental human rights. The agreement

signed with Hitler in 1939 forced him to make it easier for individuals in the German

minority in Italy to acquire German nationality, renouncing their Italian nationality,

which was clearly in conflict with his demographic convictions in relation to citizenship

law.

Similar difficulties were encountered by the Italian Republic’s legislators when de-

fining the new citizenship law after the end of the Second World War. It is enough to

remember that fidelity to the principle of

Ius sanguinis

and the uniqueness of national-

ity were the two key pillars of new Italian citizenship for many years, in part even today.

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This chapter explores debates unfolding in Italy over racial boundaries of Italian citizenship through the framework of the Black Mediterranean. The deep entanglements of race and citizenship in ongoing debates about the seconda generazione, jus soli, and Black Italianness are inflected by a long history of anxiety and contestation over the racial status of Italy, perched at the geographical and metaphorical edges of Europe and Africa. Who truly “belongs” in Italy as a rightful citizen continues to be shaped by the much-hyperbolized threat of African contamination and Italian racial degeneration. As one illustrative example, I recount the much-publicized story of the forty-two palm trees that were planted in Milan’s Piazza del Duomo in 2017. This event became a powerful incitement to discourse that threw into question the boundaries of Italy in relation to the Mediterranean and Blackness and the forces of globalization, neoliberal capitalism, and mass migration. The debates incited by this “urban greening” project dovetailed with political contestations unfolding contemporaneously over the rights of refugees and the expansion of citizenship to the children of immigrants born and raised in Italy. In this context, the Black Mediterranean stages a critical intervention vis-à-vis the resurgence of interest in Mediterranean interconnections as an idealistic, cosmopolitan response to far-right, ethnic absolutist discourses and restrictive Italian migration/citizenship policies. I conclude with implications of the Black Mediterranean not only as a theoretical framework for understanding citizenship struggles, but also as a radical form of political praxis that can inform Black activism across the modern world.

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Book

Jun 2013

Sabina Donati

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Jan 1994

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Book synopsis: The Italian Risorgimentogives a succinct and original analysis of the period in Italian history (1815-60) known as the Risorgimento(or `resurgence'). Although Italy's pre-revolutionary rulers were restored in 1825 after the defeat of Napoleon, this restoration was vigorously opposed by a number of liberal nationalist opposition groups. In 1860, following a war between, on the one hand, France and the Northern state of Piedmont and, on the other, the Austrian Empire, the Restoration states collapsed and Italy was unified under Piedmontese leadership. National unification was seen as the culminating event of Italy's `resurgence' in the 19th century. In the last two decades, many of the assumptions of Risorgimento historiography have been challenged. The Italian Risorgimentois the first book on the subject to take a thematic rather than narrative approach and place the Italian experience in a broader European context.

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A Ricci

Ricci, A. (1891). Il principio dell'unità di famiglia nell'acquisto e nella perdita della cittadinanza. Rivista Italiana per le Scienze Giuridiche, 13, fasc. I.

Genesi e sviluppo del Codice Civile del Regno d'Italia

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V Calcaterra

Calcaterra, V. (1873). Genesi e sviluppo del Codice Civile del Regno d'Italia, Vol. I. Salerno: Premiato Stabilimento Tipografico Migliaccio.

Disegno di legge presentato dal presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri Ministro dell'Interno (Giolitti) di concerto col Ministro degli Affari Esteri (Sforza)—Approvazione del Trattato di Rapallo ed annessione al Regno dei Territori attribuiti all'Italia

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CD (1920). Disegno di legge presentato dal presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri Ministro dell'Interno (Giolitti) di concerto col Ministro degli Affari Esteri (Sforza)—Approvazione del Trattato di Rapallo ed annessione al Regno dei Territori attribuiti all'Italia. Doc. 950. Roma.

Mussolini il duce. Lo Stato totalitario 1936-1940

Jan 1981

R De Felice

De Felice, R. (1981). Mussolini il duce. Lo Stato totalitario 1936-1940. Torino: Einaudi.

Relazione dell'Ufficio centrale, composta dai senatori D'Amelio, presidente, Di Donato, segretario, Mayer, Sandrini, Perla e Baccelli, relatore, nella tornata del 7 marzo 1930-Anno VIII, Presentata nella seduta del 31 marzo 1933-Anno XI, Sulla cittadinanza

Jan 1933
364

SR (1933). Relazione dell'Ufficio centrale, composta dai senatori D'Amelio, presidente, Di Donato, segretario, Mayer, Sandrini, Perla e Baccelli, relatore, nella tornata del 7 marzo 1930-Anno VIII, Presentata nella seduta del 31 marzo 1933-Anno XI, Sulla cittadinanza, N. 364-A.

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