Description
Researching family history has always been my dad’s domain. Trawling through birth and death certificates, poring over microfilm of archival documents and requesting parish ledgers mean that he has traced both his and my mum’s forebears back through the generations. In all honesty, it was never really my cup of tea when I was younger, but knowing where you come from gains importance over time, especially when you move away from your origins. Genealogy keeps you grounded. It’s a matter that concerns many of our readers. After all, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, about 5.5 million Italians emigrated to America, and so it makes perfect sense that Italian Americans often look up their ancestors out of curiosity, a longing to understand their roots and increasingly motivated by a yearning to prove their roots as a means of applying for Italian citizenship, perhaps with a view to moving to il bel Paese. However, recent legislation from the Italian government is dispensing with citizenship requests that go further back than your grandparents, meaning that no matter how diligently you research your family history, your Italian bloodline will no longer grant you the opportunity to have a passaporto and residency rights on the peninsula. The Florentine’s legal columnist and experienced international lawyer Michele Capecchi explains the new law overleaf on page 4.
The Tajani Decree (36/2025) is not the only hot-button issue surrounding Italian citizenship at the moment. Coming up soon, on June 8 and 9, Italians will go to the polls for a referendum whose main purpose is to revise labour laws, and yet also includes an option to reduce the length of time foreigners must be residing in Italy before being able to apply for citizenship. The suggestion is to half the period from the current ten years to just five. Turn to page 5 to find out more.
This month’s main interview with Daniela Ballard, the U.S. Consul General for Tuscany, most of Emilia Romagna and San Marino, sheds some light on the press murmurings about the potential closure of the American Consulate in Florence. I sat down with Ms. Ballard a few hours before a new wave of rumours surfaced on social media following the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s declaration about scaling down the State Department and an earlier report in Virginia-based publication Politico.com claiming that Florence was one of a number of European consulates under operational review. During our 25-minute in-person conversation, the U.S. Consul General was clear that our consulate continues to be open for business, such as for passport renewals and visa applications, among many other things. Read the full interview on pages 6+7.
The temperature’s rising, and so is the events scene. Check out Chianti Lovers Week with tastings and wine culture galore from May 5 to 11 (page 15), plus a closing party at Manifattura Tabacchi with a lineup of wineries in the city on Sunday, May 11, celebrate Cinco de Mayo (page 18) and make the most of The Season to spend time in the gorgeous New York University gardens (page 17). Cultural highlights include the long-awaited reopening of the Donatello Hall at the Bargello (page 9), a miscellany of woman artists at the subterranean Strozzina space, marking 20 Years of the Max Mara Prize for Women (page 18) and a show centred on the grand ducal architect and sculptor Giovan Battista Foggini at Palazzo Medici Riccardi (page 14). May is the month of the iris, Florence’s emblematic bloom and a personal favourite for its deceptive delicacy that conceals singular strength, so off we go to the Iris Garden by the piazzale to admire the flowers (page 11). Also, don’t miss recently restored 18th-century Villa La Quiete gardens, opening to the public for the first time in all these years from May 16 onwards. Two tips on the food trend front (don’t worry, bistecca, pappa al pomodoro and tagliatelle ai funghi porcini will never fall out of fashion! See page 36): supper clubs are where it’s at for socializing while learning (page 25) and organized picnics are becoming all the rage (page 19).
Speaking of which, book now and join us for lunch on Tuesday, May 6 at 25hours Hotel Piazza San Paolino as we celebrate 50 years of Dario Cecchini’s career as a butcher.
