Italian citizenship can be auotmatically acquired:
1. by having an Italian parent(s);
2. by being born in Italy:
including cases in which the parents are unknown, stateless or do not transmit their own citizenship to their child according to the legislation of the State to which they belong, as well as children found abandoned in Italy and for whom it is impossible to determine status civitatis (citizenship);
3. through paternal or maternal recognition while the child is a minor (in cases in
which the child recognised is no longer a minor, he/she is obliged to elect to become a citizen within one year of recognition);
4. by adoption, both if the foreign minor is adopted by an Italian citizen by means of
the Italian Judicial Authorities, as well as in the case in which adoption is granted abroad and made effective in Italy through a writ, issued by the Juvenile Court and registered with the Civil Registry.
If the adoptee is no longer a minor he/she can become a naturalised Italian citizen after 5 years of legal residence in Italy (see How to Apply: Naturalisation).
