Across Italy, local leaders are increasingly challenging the distance between municipal halls and the corridors of Rome, signaling a trend toward greater regional influence as tensions mount within the governing coalition. A summer proposal from Forza Italia to grant citizenship to foreign-born children who complete a full school cycle in Italy has become a flashpoint. It irritates the League, the other major coalition partner, yet this week the idea prompted the Florence mayor to suggest granting honorary citizenship to those children even without a national law in place to secure such rights.
The move, aimed at Florence alone, is framed as a symbolic gesture rather than a legal reform. It would not bestow the rights tied to a full citizenship revision and would still require approval from the municipal council. Nevertheless, it exposes a clear rift in the government’s cohesion. The League rejected the plan outright, while Brothers of Italy, the party backing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has not publicly weighed in yet.
According to the Florence mayor, the objective is to jolt national politics by showing that local leaders can push for changes that reflect the needs of young residents. She argues that many young people should not be treated as second‑class citizens and deserve a path to belonging. In recent weeks, openings have appeared, particularly from Forza Italia, and Florence—a city with a history of advancing progressive policies, such as the legalization of civil unions for same‑sex couples—continues to be viewed as a potential testing ground for broader reform, she notes.
Internal clash
The proposal is being pushed by the Florence mayor, a member of the Democratic Party elected in June, a period that saw the left win several municipalities previously controlled by the right. Her initiative seeks to cast a spotlight on a long‑running political struggle that has divided Italy’s two major blocs. Over time, the center‑left has floated various ideas to adjust citizenship eligibility, but success has remained elusive.
The most recent substantive discussions occurred in 2017 under a progressive government. That year, Parliament debated a citizenship bill for weeks, but the proposal stalled due to intra‑coalition divisions within the center-left and notable opposition from both the League and Forza Italia.
Since then, across the years, the achievements of Italian‑born athletes with immigrant backgrounds at major global events have spurred renewed debate and a shift in Forza Italia’s stance. The party’s leadership has shown interest in revisiting the 1992 citizenship law grounded in jus sanguinis, while exploring jus soli or at least jus scholae for children under 12 who study regularly in Italy.
Nearly a million affected
The scope of the issue has grown markedly since the early debates. Education authorities report that today, roughly 15% of Italian schools do not have students with foreign‑born parents, while the share of students without citizenship stands at about 914,000, around 11% of the total student population. Florence stands out as an example of this trend, with its province ranking among those with the highest numbers of students without citizenship, nearing 10,000 in the city proper. In more than one in ten classrooms, over 30% of students are in this situation. These are children who speak Italian fluently and feel a sense of Italian identity, yet carry evolving personal identities, according to the mayor. She argues that mayors must champion ethical, civil progress and push for policies that reflect contemporary realities. Time will reveal whether these words translate into concrete change.