Raffaele is a chatbot that helps you determine if you are eligible for Italian citizenship by descent. I’ll let other sites describe the history and process of Italian citizenship. To be eligible, the following qualifications must be met. First you need to identify your “line” e.g. if your maternal grandfather was born in Italy, then your line is Grandfather -> Mother -> You.

1. You must have an Italian ancestor who was alive on or after the establishment/unification of Italy on 17 March 1861
2. Italian citizenship was passed to the next generation as long as:
   • The Italian ancestor did not naturalize or renounce citizenship (very rarely happened) before the next generation was born
   • The Italian ancestor did not naturalize while the next generation was a minor
3. If any of the ancestors in your line is a woman:
   • Women in the US could not naturalize on their own until the Cable Act passed on 22 September 1922. Before this, a woman gained US citizenship upon her marriage to a US citizen or upon his naturalization. Italian law considers this naturalization involuntary and an Italian court may recognize this as a valid transmission of Italian citizenship.
   • Sine women could only pass citizenship to their child starting on 1 January 1948, if a woman in your line gave birth to the next generation before this date, you would need to pursue a judicial case via the Italian courts.
4. You must collect documentary proof in the form of birth and marriage certificates, and proof of naturalization or no naturalization from the proper agencies. Name and birthdate discrepancies in most cases must be corrected.

If you have your line(s) identified and know everyone’s birthdates and naturalization dates if relevant, you may try this chat bot to see if you might be eligible. This is a work in progress and cannot be guaranteed to be accurate. If you have questions you may ask in one of the useful Facebook groups, the consulate assigned to your place or residence, or an Italian lawyer for 1948 cases, where appropriate.