In what lawyers are calling a watershed moment, a court in Verona has done something remarkable: it’s hitting a stubborn Italian municipality with €100 fines for every single day it refuses to process citizenship paperwork for three Brazilian applicants.
Judge Cristina Pezzini handed down the decision on October 29, 2025, and it’s already sending ripples through Italy’s citizenship recognition system. The town of Castagnaro (Veneto) had been dragging its feet for months, completely ignoring a court order to transcribe the citizenship records into the civil registry. Now, they’re paying the price—literally.
When Bureaucracy Meets Its Match
Here’s the frustrating part: these three applicants weren’t even in legal limbo! A Rome court had already granted them citizenship back in December 2023. The case was closed, done, and finalized. But without those crucial transcriptions in the civil records, they couldn’t actually do anything with their new status—no passport applications, no identity cards, nothing.
The judge gave the designated official a 15-day deadline to complete the transcriptions. Miss that deadline? The clock starts ticking at €100 per day, payable directly to the applicants who’ve been stuck in administrative purgatory.
Could this Change Italian Citizenship Cases?
Attorney Valerio Piccolo, who worked on the case, sees this as a turning point. Unlike previous rulings that ordered action but lacked teeth, this decision actually enforces compliance. The judge invoked Article 614-bis of Italy’s civil procedure code, which allows courts to impose financial penalties to force compliance with judicial orders.
Another lawyer who worked on the case, Andrew Montone, emphasized what’s really at stake. “This is not just about paperwork,” he explained. “It is about making sure that when a court recognizes someone’s citizenship rights, those rights actually mean something in the real world.”
Why This Matters Now
These penalty mechanisms—borrowed from French legal tradition—are starting to gain traction in Italy, particularly in citizenship cases where local administrators have been notorious for simply ignoring court decisions. It’s a frustrating pattern that’s affected countless families pursuing recognition through descent.
The irony isn’t lost on anyone involved: after years of applicants facing rejections and endless delays, the tables have finally turned. Now it’s the rule-breakers in government offices who are facing consequences.
For anyone navigating the Italian citizenship process, this ruling offers a glimmer of hope that judicial decisions might actually get the respect—and action—they deserve.