There is an Italy that feels Italian without being so by law . It is made up of faces and stories, often from far away—from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay—where ancestors left Italy in search of a better life.

Today, the great-grandchildren of those emigrants return to their homeland, dreaming of rebuilding a bond broken by time and distance . But they find themselves stuck, trapped in a bureaucratic, cultural, and human limbo.

Until two months ago, under Italian law, proving ancestry was enough to obtain citizenship. The principle was simple: ius sanguinis, the right of blood. Anyone with an Italian ancestor could claim that citizenship as part of their identity. It was a recognition rather than an acquisition.

With the conversion into law of Decree 36, approved last May, Italy has decided to turn the page . Now, only the children and grandchildren of Italian citizens can apply for citizenship. Great-grandchildren—even if they bear the imprint of Italian origin in their hearts, names, and documents—are no longer considered eligible to become Italian citizens.

Many of them have long since begun the long and complicated process of obtaining citizenship: documents retrieved from archives, certified translations, certifications, and huge expenses. Some have already left their country of origin, sold their homes, quit their jobs, invested every resource in a new life, ready to start over in their ancestral homeland. Today, they find themselves with nothing, neither citizenship nor prospects.

"They're in limbo," says Mauro Carta, regional president of ACLI, who has long been involved in this issue. "They made important choices, both personal and economic, in good faith. Now they find themselves suspended, without any certainty, while our country continues to experience a negative demographic balance of nearly 280,000 people a year. We rejected the referendum on ius soli, now we're denying the right to Italian descendants as well. It's clear that a real policy on citizenship and national identity is lacking."