The current law granting Italian citizenship jure sanguinis states that women could hold but not pass citizenship to children born before January 1, 1948, the date Italy became a Republic.

The newest and certainly the most intriguing approach to discovering our family history is DNA testing and analysis. A DNA test result shows us the “mix” by percentages of the various “nationalities” or geographic history of our family.  But often, the results may not show any or only a small percentage of “Italian” background…

In the past there were three kinds of fountains: for drinking (also used as troughs or abbeveratoi), for washing clothes (also known as lavatoi) or for decoration. If you are traveling to your Ancestral town, most likely you will find a public fountain.

From Roman times until the end of the 19th century, fountains operated by gravity, requiring a source of water higher than the fountain itself to make the water flow.

Due to the high volume of jure sanguinis applications at all Italian Consulates in the United States it is difficult to predict how long it will take until you are notified by your Italian Consulate that you can apply for a passport if you want one. It is not unusual for it to take between 6 and 12 months before you hear from them.