Italian citizenship crackdown stalls diaspora relocation and roots tourism

Italy’s recent tightening of citizenship-by-descent rules has abruptly halted relocation plans for thousands of applicants and disrupted a state-funded tourism sector. The reform introduced a strict two-generational limit, requiring applicants born abroad to prove a parent or grandparent held exclusively Italian citizenship, or retained it until death, barring many from the process.

Relocation professionals report immediate fallout across the industry. Jennifer Sontag, founder of the ViaMonde agency, noted that clients who had already sold homes, signed leases, or booked flights were left stranded without qualifying for alternative visa categories.

The restrictive measure is now facing formal legal scrutiny. The policy has been contested in domestic courts and was referred to the European Court of Justice this week, offering potential relief to those caught in the regulatory shift.

A strategy undermined

This policy reversal directly contradicts recent government investments designed to attract this exact demographic. Between 2022 and 2025, the state channelled €20 million through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan into the Italea programme, formally establishing roots tourism as a national strategy.

This initiative peaked with the 2024 Year of the Italian Roots in the World. Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani previously described the movement as a "golden opportunity to fortify our connections with our communities overseas and to shed light on the small hamlets and rural communities that stand at the origin of their migration story".

The economic stakes for local markets are substantial. Italy’s national tourism agency ENIT recorded 6.6 million roots tourists in 2024, with the Foreign Ministry projecting a rise to 7.4 million by 2026 as the sector recovers toward the 8 million recorded in 1997.

Municipalities and local enterprises had been actively preparing for this demographic influx. Sontag attended a late 2024 convention in Palermo where hundreds of tourism officials and businesses were encouraged to brace for an arrival of descendants seeking to buy property and open enterprises.

Following the citizenship decree, promotional efforts reportedly vanished almost overnight. Sontag argues the reform means Italy has "shot itself in the foot". She stated that "the greatest value of roots tourism was never a week in the hotel," adding that it was instead "the possibility that someone would return, renovate a home, pay local taxes, rent year-round, support businesses outside the summer season, and eventually become part of the town."