I was born in the United States, second generation Italian-American on my mother’s side and third generation on father’s side. I didn’t realize until much later, though, that I was not only an American citizen, but a citizen of Italy as well.
My maternal grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of my mother’s birth. According to Italian law, she was automatically Italian, as well as American, and handed her citizenship down to me. All that was required was registration of some documents for Italy to record and recognize my status.
As you might imagine, there’s a lot hidden in that “all” that was required. Tracking down documents led to many, many hours spent looking into my family history both in the US and in Italy. There were lots of bends in the road, and an awful lot of side roads, including a few dead ends. But it was an amazing process and I’ve learned so many things along the way.
For more about this, hover over “Becoming Italian” in the top menu bar and choose a post to start reading. If you are on a mobile device, tap the Menu icon way up top–three red bars in a white circle–and then tap the small downward pointing caret next to “Becoming Italian.” To keep up with what’s new in this section, be sure to check back from time to time. Or better still, subscribe to my blog (scroll to the very bottom and enter your email). I’ll post a notice there any time I update the Becoming Italian section and you’ll receive an email.
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