1948

Annunziata & William

What is the 1948 rule? The 1948 Rule is commonly known as the female line rule. This rule enables children born to an Italian mother prior to 1948 to claim Italian Dual Citizenship before the Civil Court of Rome. This is very important because my Grandmother Diane was born in 1942. (She might kill me for sharing that date- I love you!). It is important to point out that the 1948 rule did not always exist. In 1912 the Italian Government only recognized children as Italian citizens through lineage following the paternal line. 

“the Law of 1912 reaffirmed the principle of recognition of Italian citizenship through paternal lineage to the citizens' children regardless of their place of birth, as  already provided for in the Civil Code of 1865, Article 7 was meant to ensure that the children of Italian emigrants could maintain the link with their ascendants’ country of origin, thus introducing an important exception to the principle of single citizenship”. (resource listed at the end)

However in 1983 the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that the 1912 law was unconstitutional because of the unequal treatment of women & men. They revised the law and made it so that a child born to either a man or a woman can acquire Italian citizenship from both a Italian Father or Italian Mother. “A child derives Italian Citizenship equally from either parent”. 

But what about the children born to an Italian mother prior to 1983? The law was not retroactive, this led directly to the 1948 rule. Italy’s highest legal-administrative body, the Consiglio di Sato affirmed that the equality applies to children born after January 1st 1948. This date was decided because that is when the Italian Constitution was adopted. This meant that children born to a Italian mother after January 1st 1948 could apply for dual citizenship. But wait, remember I said my Grandmother was born to her Italian Mother in 1942. This means that she could not apply. BUT wait! Let me throw one more set of dates at ya! Now your head is really spinning! Trust me it was harder to write this and not butcher it than it probably was to read! 

In 2009 the Italian Court of Cassation retroactively extended the equality principle to cover cases of citizenship where children were born to a Italian mother prior to 1948. This right here is one of the most important keys in this whole journey. This decision to open up dual citizenship to children born to a Italian Mother before 1948! This now includes my Grandmother! 

And just when you thought things got less complicated! Now that they have ruled that children born to a Italian mother before 1948 can apply for dual citizenship, they decided that these cases that fall before 1948 will not be handled in the same fashion as they do not carry the weight of the judicial precedent under the common law system. This means that maternal cases of children born before 1948 must go through the Civil Court of Rome versus the Italian Consulate as children born after 1948 would have to do. It may say that these cases do not carry the weight of the judicial precedent but in fact there is a wonderful essence of the 1948 rule. We do not have to go through the Italian consulate (currently a 10+ year wait list depending on the State). We have a right to take our case directly to the Civil Court in Rome. This means that through our Attorney in Italy we have our case presented to the Civil Courts in Rome directly. In other words we skip the 10+ year waiting list! 

So in more wonderful words, this allows children born prior to 1948 to expedite the process of claiming their dual citizenship before the Civil Court of Rome. However the word expedite is a misleading word! Before you can hire an Attorney and have your case presented, there is lots paperwork you need to acquire, Birth, Death, Marriage & Immigration paperwork. In addition, all of the documents need to be official and translated into Italian. In our case it took about 4-5 years to acquire all of this paperwork. The estimated process time for the 1948 rule is 2-3 years. 

Now that we have a hold on the 1948 Rule, I have to  stop and give you a quick introduction to you two very special women. Annunziata Baccelli is my Great Great Grandmother (on my Father’s side). She was born in San Francisco in 1918 to Raffaelo & Maria Baccelli. Raffaello was one of five brothers (Raffaello, Dominico, Pietro, Dino, and Bepe) that left Lucca Italy to seek work in America. Raffaello and Maria had four children Nancy (Annunziataa in Italian), Josephine, Louie, and Yolanda. They had all of their children in a home that is still rented out as a business office  today in the Marina District of San Francisco. My Grandmother Diane was able to tour the home. My Great Great Grandmother Annunziata later married a Irish Man,  William Gallagher in 1940 in San Francisco. You can see their lovely wedding photo in the Gallery I have included. They had four daughters, Diane is my Grandmother and Fynn’s Great Great Grandmother. Remember we learned that the 1948 rule is through the maternal line, my Grandmother was born in 1942. Growing up we spent every weekend in San Francisco with Family. I will most definitely be talking more about both of these lovely women in the entries to come. My Great Great Grandmother Annunziata’s passed away in 2007 just a few months shy of getting to meet Jon, my now husband. She lived all of her life in San Francisco. I have had the great pleasure of getting to share both Jon & Fynn with her daughter Diane, my Grandmother.

As I write this I can't help but think about all the lives lived before my time, in San Francisco, in Italy. All parents try to carve out the best parts of the world for their little ones. During the time for Raffaelo coming to America was to provide a more fruitful life for his family. Here and now I often question the pro’s and con’s of raising Fynn in America. It is funny how things can come full circle. Here I am now, generations away from where this all started. I am questioning my own country's values and evaluating where I want Fynn to have the majority of his upbringing. Generations then and now asking these fundamental questions all for the love and well being of their family. They wanted to come here and now we look back in that direction.

Lucca Italy is so important to my family and I, it is where Annunziata’s Father is from. It is the location that links us back to our family. In 2016 Jon and I went to visit my family in Lucca and even though we were meeting face to face for the first time it felt like we had known each other for all these years. I also could not believe the resemblance of myself and Simona! Lucca is one of few Italian cities that have a wall left built around it. This wall was built during the renaissance period and it was meant to protect the city from invasions. Luckily they never faced an invasion, so the wall still remains. In one of the photos you can see Marcello and I walking along the top- it is lined with the most beautiful trees. The trees were planted so that the roots would help strengthen the walls and were originally all poplar trees but now in present day there are over 35 species. Entering Lucca through the walls is like entering a fairy tale. 

So how did we get here & where do we stand now?  It was in casual conversation with my Grandmother that I found out that dual citizenship might be a possibility. At that time she had already been working on our family tree through Ancestory.com. She also had been tirelessly gathering all of the documentation that would be needed in order to follow the steps of the process. It is because of her love of family, of family history that this opportunity presented itself. I must admit that at first it was a selfish feat- the possibility of being able to live anywhere in the EU. But when Jon and I had Fynn, the thought of passing the option to dwell somewhere other than the US became the greatest gift that we, that his Great Grandmother, that his Great Great Grandmother could pass on to him. 

In order to properly submit our documentation to our Italian attorney we had to have the following: 

• Certification of Birth & Marriage and certificate of Naturalization (or non-existence of record for naturalization)of the Italian ancestor. 

• Birth, Death and Marriage certificates of all of the Italian ancestor’s descendants

• Certificate of birth of the all persons applying. 

• Each document issued in your our country have its own Apostille given by our countries government. 

• Each document must be translate in Italian and have its own Apostille give.

For our particular case, my Grandmother Diane will need to “win” or be awarded the case/dual citizenship. However we do not need to redo this process for each person. We have included her- the main descendant, my Father (her son), Myself (her granddaughter) and now my little Fynn (her Great Great Grandson). At the time of the case, once her position has been evaluated (lets just say hypothetically she is awarded duel) then it automatically goes to my Father (her son), Myself (her granddaughter) and my little Fynn (her Great great Grandson). Currently our court date is set for November 9th 2022!!! I want time to go slow because I want Fynn to be small forever but I want time to go fast so we can find out if we have been awarded! 

If you made it this far- THANK YOU for reading & for coming along on this journey with me. 

1st Picture: My Great Great Grandmother Annunziata & her husband William Gallagher

2nd Picture: My Grandmothers’s Great Uncle Bebe Baccelli & wife Virgina

3rd Picture: My Grandmother Diane and three sisters pictured with Annucieta Center bottom

4th Picture: My Father pictured with Diane & his two sisters

5th Picture: The home Raffaello moved into in Sacramento when he first immigrated to the US

6th Picture: Simona and I in Lucca Italy on our visit in 2016- Can you see the resemblance?!

7th Picture: Myself in Lucca Italy

8th Picture: Marcello and I in Lucca Italy on our visit in 2016

9th Picture: Marcello and I walking on the wall in Lucca Italy

I will be posting more of our trip to Lucca as our journey continues.