History of Italian citizenship

In the Middle Ages, the Italian peninsula was split into five large and small sovereign states that were subsequently subdivided into several smaller, semi-autonomous, mini-states.

[10] The Destra Storica (Historical Right) completed the territorial unification of Italy, centralized its administration, and established an effective system of tax collection.

[12] Following the fall of the Sinistra Storica parliament, Italian national politics were firmly controlled by Giovanni Giolitti; his position in government remained predominant from 1903 to 1914.

[15] Under Giolitti, however, the Vatican decided to hesitantly support the Italian state; finally making it possible for “good Catholics” to vote in elections, following 1903.

[18] The Fascist’s ideal citizen was a “new man” devoid of any individual autonomy and responsibility who was taught to see himself merely as an instrument of the state.

[24] It was within the syndicates that requests for improved working conditions and higher wages were petitioned and decided upon with the state acting only as the final judge.

The national electorate was adapted to this new system so all voters were now, under fascism, male Italian citizens over the age of twenty one who belonged to a syndicate and were members of the fascist party.

Belonging to a syndicate provided evidence of an individual's contribution to the state while simultaneously, through obligation in membership, made sure that all voting citizens were members of the Fascist Party.

This new region was referred to as “Venezia Giulia.” Under fascist rule this north eastern border was specifically targeted for the violent enforcement of an Italian national identity.

[27] Previous to fascist control Slavs in the area were treated as an alien group and this categorization translated into specific anti-Slav policies prohibiting the use of Slovene in government institutions and law courts.

[29] By 1923 Topnomy laws reinvented the identities of these provinces; Slavic street names and monuments were changed to celebrate and promote Italian contemporary persons.

Houses were searched for foreign language literature and alien cultural and athletic organizations were purged of non-Italian content.

[33] However the strength of regional patriotism has also positively affected the ease with which Italian Nationals have entered the European Union.

[35] Italy's ultimate law is found in its constitution, created in 1948 following the fascist downfall, where sovereignty belongs to citizens who elect a parliament.

It was the overwhelming use of regional dialects and foreign languages that lead non-Italian speaking minorities to be considered a threat to the development of national consciousness.

As a result of this the first eighty or ninety years of Italian history characterizes non-Italian speaking minorities as intruders in the national domain; who were to be given no official existence.

[40] This repression of foreign languages went so far as to prompt Fascist Party member Tommaso Tittoni, on 16 August 1926 to call upon Benito Mussolini to send government representatives around newspaper offices to catch out and sack linguistic offenders.

The fundamental principles, of both the Napoleonic code and 1865 Italian Civil Code, indicated that all male citizens were equal before the law: primogeniture, hereditary nobility, and class privileges were to be extinguished; civilian institutions were to be emancipated from ecclesiastical control; and freedom of person, freedom of contract, and inviolability of private property were to be placed under the formal protection of Civil Law.

[44] The modern Italian Civil Code (promulgated in 1942) contains 2969 articles and is divided into six books categorized under the headings Persons and Family, Succession, Property Obligations, Labor, and Protection of Rights.

[45] Under the Civil Code of 1865 women were formally categorized based, almost exclusively, on the nature of their relationship with an Italian male.

Women were excluded from political and administrative suffrage, were not allowed to hold any public office, and barred from representing civil state authority.

For instance women, under the original civil code of 1865, were not allowed to become arbitrators, notaries, lawyers, judges, or guardians to individuals unless directly connected through blood.

Finally, in 1975, reforms were introduced and enacted that brought about a legal change to the distribution of power between the sexes in marriage, which had formerly held an incredibly masculine bias.

If the future wife or husband has committed a crime of considerable degree, or poses a threat to the nation at large, then they will be barred from formal entry.

During war-time this provision is made much more important as any citizen publicly, or militarily, employed within a state at odds with Italy is essentially forced to give up their citizenship.