Antonio Tajani

Serving as Foreign Minister; law upheld by Constitutional Court

For more than 160 years, anyone who could trace an unbroken bloodline to an Italian ancestor could claim Italian citizenship, no matter how many generations had passed or whether they had ever set foot in Italy. On March 12, 2026, Italy's Constitutional Court upheld a law that ended that principle, capping eligibility at people with an Italian-born parent or grandparent and requiring that ancestor to have held only Italian citizenship. The ruling closes the door on millions of descendants in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and elsewhere who previously had a legal path to an Italian passport and, with it, the right to live and work anywhere in the European Union.

Updated Yesterday

Coordinating Italian victim response in Crans-Montana

A fire ripped through Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana at 1:30am on New Year's Day as over 100 revelers celebrated. Multiple witnesses told French media BFMTV that waitresses carried champagne bottles with sparklers on a barman's shoulders—the flames came within centimeters of the acoustic foam ceiling, igniting an inferno that engulfed the entire nightclub within 10 seconds. At least 40 people died and 116 were hospitalized with severe burns. All 40 victims have been identified: 21 Swiss nationals (aged 14-31), 6 Italians (including one Italian-Emirati dual citizen), 9 French citizens, 1 Romanian, and 1 Turkish citizen. Among the dead was a 15-year-old girl with French, British, and Israeli nationalities. A locked service door in the basement—which owner Jacques Moretti admitted to investigators—may have trapped victims trying to escape.

Updated Jan 18