Columbus Day: celebrate your Italian roots and discover what it takes to be recognized Italian citizen

Oct 13, 2023

An interesting query reached our Citizenship Department few months ago:

“The way I intend to obtain Italian citizenship is by descent. My case is a bit particular, since my Italian ancestor is far away in time, since he was an historical character, for that reason, there is a certain amount of material to document the bond. My 15th grandfather was Cristopher Columbus, so I am looking for information on the probability that the application can be accepted.”

Why is Columbus Day celebrated?

Every year a huge number of Italian Americans gather to celebrate Columbus Day, better known as the symbolic day on which Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo) first touched the American soil.

As well as the Italian voyager, many people have left Italy over the years and emigrated abroad, giving rise to numerous descendants. You may have Italian roots without knowing it!

How can I find out if I have Italian ancestors?

Fortunately, you won’t need an history expert but genealogists instead: people specialized in the field of research who can help you trace your Italian roots.

Otherwise, if you are a master of digital searching, please know that there are a lot of national and local archives spread into the web linked to documents such as Census records, passengers’ list, Naturalization papers etc…

What does expatriation date mean and why is it important for Italian citizenship?

The expatriation date marks the day/month in which your Italian ancestor reached the foreign country.

Knowing this detail is a huge resource of information, useful for the purpose of citizenship process:

• in the event that the ancestor is known to the descendants with a different name, the original Italian name can be traced back to the first arrival registers.
• in the sheets showing the first entry, it is possible to find out if the ancestor arrived in the foreign country alone or along with his family. It will be also possible to discover the composition of it and acquire as many details as possible.

What document do I need to search for?

In the United States, for example, you may search the List or manifest of alien passengers. This document contains all the information and dates related to the traveler and his family, further info at: https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/passenger-manifest-annotations.

Warning and tips:

At the end of 19^th century, beginning of the 20^th century, ship passengers’ lists were handwritten, and often Italian names were misunderstood by foreign officers. Therefore, pay attention to the calligraphy and check if there are alternative spellings.

Did you reach this last level?

Contact our citizenship department for a preliminary assessment of your eligibility, we will be glad to guide you into this journey towards the Italian citizenship by descent.

This article was written by Giuditta De Ricco, Greis Muca and Daniele Sergio Ranno

For further information: citizenship@mazzeschi.it

With our Multilingual Service Desks with native English, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic speaking associates serving as a contact point, we offer a dense network of lawyers specialized in Italian Immigration and Citizenship law.

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