From the Apennines to the Andes: how we obtained the right to Italian citizenship for 53 descendants
A Family Genealogical Investigation Between Italy, Argentina, and Chile
By Pablo Blanco Traverso
Genealogist and Partner at ADN y Genealogía
How far can genealogical research take us? In this case, from the Italian Apennines to Chile, passing through Argentina, parish archives, civil registries, and fundamental documents to reconstruct a lineage.
This is the story of a family investigation that began with the search for an Italian ancestor and allowed us to gather the necessary documentation so that 53 of his descendants in Chile could claim their Italian citizenship.
A Large-Scale Family Story
It might sound like the 80s cartoon about Marco Rossi traveling from Italy to Argentina to find his mother, but it's our story. Having dual citizenship isn't just a dream: it's a goal achieved through perseverance.
Our story began as a large-scale family project. Cousins, uncles, and nephews shared the same desire: to recover our roots and legally become Italian citizens.
As the family's self-appointed genealogist, I took on the challenge and began the search several years ago, tracing the footsteps of my grandfather, who emigrated from Argentina to Chile at the beginning of the 20th century, and my great-grandfather Pietro, who originally left Italy for Argentina at the end of the 19th century.
The mystery of the surname and the key piece of information
At first, the results were frustrating. My great-grandfather's first and last names were extremely common in northern Italy, particularly in the Liguria region.
The search stalled for a long time, until an Italian citizen revealed a crucial detail to me: it was traditional for emigrants to be given the name of their hometown as a nickname in their adopted country. That nickname had not been recorded in the family's memory in Chile.
Therefore, I traveled to Argentina to meet with the last of Pietro's grandchildren who was still alive. He hadn't lived with our great-grandfather, but he did live with his older cousins and Pietro's direct descendants. The information was correct: I remembered the nickname and had photographs and anecdotes from that time. After a couple of clicks on Google, we located a small village in the Ligurian Apennines where we finally picked up the trail.
The Documentary Odyssey in the Apennines and Argentina
To submit the consular file, we knew we needed a complete chain of documents:
Pietro's Italian birth certificate.
His marriage certificate, from a location unknown to us all, and his death certificate in Argentina.
The Certificate of Non-Naturalization issued in Argentina, a crucial document to prove that Pietro died an Italian citizen and had not renounced his nationality.
This allowed us to document the transmission of citizenship by jus sanguinis (right of blood) to his descendants.
Reaching the towns in the Apennines was just the first step in an exhaustive search. The priest in charge of the initial parish registers didn't make the process easy, but after adapting to his timeline, we obtained the necessary certificate to legalize and apostille it. Pietro had indeed been born in the town his nickname referred to. Next, we needed to locate his marriage certificate.
From my great-grandmother's surname, we knew she wasn't from the same town. A painstaking search over weeks in the surrounding villages led us to her marriage certificate in a nearby town. The discovery was extraordinary: she married on her birthday, and the date coincided with her military conscription certificate, which authorized her to travel to America.
The document that opened the door for 53 descendants
With the information clear in Argentina, we requested the Certificate of Non-Naturalization. After several requests and a long wait with the relevant agency, we confirmed that Pietro had died as an Italian citizen.
That document officially opened the door for the 53 descendants in Chile and for many more relatives who remained in Argentina.
Preparing the file: consular and judicial routes
Although gathering the documents in Chile seemed like the simplest step, it proved complex due to the number of people involved and the diversity of family situations: single, married, divorced, with or without children, in addition to the need to reconstruct records that had been lost over the course of a century.
Finally, given that Italian nationality laws contemplate different scenarios depending on the circumstances of each family tree, different routes were used:
Consular route: part of the family submitted their file directly at the consulate by scheduling an appointment.
Legal route in Rome: Those family members whose cases could not be resolved through ordinary consular channels filed a lawsuit in the courts of Rome. This was due, among other circumstances noted in this case, to the difficulty in obtaining a consular appointment and situations related to maternal lineage prior to 1948.
Important: The requirements and procedures for recognition of Italian citizenship may vary depending on each family's circumstances and current regulations. This account corresponds to a specific case and does not imply that the same procedure will apply to all cases.
Recovering our roots
Recovering one's original nationality requires time, travel, and bureaucracy, but seeing the completed family file demonstrates that no obstacle is insurmountable when working as a team.
And, in our case, the result was much more than gathering documents: it was reconstructing a part of our family history and reconnecting several generations with the place from which Pietro came.
Do you need to research your Italian ancestry?
Every family story is different. Sometimes we know the name of our ancestor, but not their exact birthplace; other times we know they emigrated from Italy, but we can't find the documents that would allow us to reconstruct the family connection.
At DNA and Genealogy, we can help you research your family history, locate ancestors, and reconstruct the genealogical lines necessary to better understand your roots.
If you have Italian ancestry and want to know what possibilities exist in your case, we can work with you to determine the starting point of your research.
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