I decided to spend a little non-programming time addressing the issue of me becoming an official Italian. I thought I qualify for it, sadly I now don't think (e:Milke) and I qualified anymore. It seems like the process is pretty well listed out on a couple of websites italiancitizenship.info and myitaliancitizenship.com and italiandualcitizenship.com and progenealogists.com

Most of them offer services to get the documents and get them translated.

If you are an american and had italian parents, grandparent or even great grandparents you may qualify. I don't unfortunately because all of my ancestors effectively renounced their right to citizenship when their parents were naturalized and they were under 18. Seems unfair as a child cannot really make such decisions, but that's how the dice roll. If only my mother was born here and my grandparents waited until after she was 18 to become citizens.

Q. My Italian parent/grandparent/great grandparent was born in Italy, but was naturalized along with his or her parents as a minor. Does it still count as renouncing one's right to Italian citizenship if the child was too young to make a conscious choice?

A.     Yes. If your parent/grandparent/great grandparent was naturalized as a minor, he or she effectively renounced his or her right to Italian citizenship. This means that your ancestor was unable to pass Italian citizenship jure sanguinis to his or her children as an adult. Unfortunately, no exceptions are made in these cases.

Here are the qualifying credentials as per progenealogists.com

1. Your father was born in Italy and was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth, and you never renounced your right to Italian citizenship.
   
2. Your mother was born in Italy and was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth, you were born after January 1st, 1948 and you never renounced your right to Italian citizenship.
   
3. Your father was born in the United States, your paternal grandfather was born in Italy and was an Italian citizen at the time of your father’s birth, neither you nor your father ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship.
   
4. Your mother was born in the United States, your maternal grandfather was born in Italy and was an Italian citizen at the time of your mother’s birth, you were born after January 1, 1948 and neither you nor your mother ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship.
   
5. Your paternal or maternal grandfather was born in the United States, your paternal or maternal great grandfather was born in Italy and was an Italian citizen at the time of your paternal or maternal grandfather’s birth, neither you nor your father/mother nor your grandfather/grandmother ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship.

The consulate itself would have the most up to date information: This is the current link to their info page on this topic which includes a summary and links to the forms required

One of the best parts of being italian citizen is that you can also live and work in other countries of the EU. As noted on Sadly, I won't qualify.

Having an Italian passport is like having a passport to any EU country, allowing you to live and work anywhere. Under the terms of Article 17 (ex Article 8) of the Treaty on European Union, any person holding the nationality of a member state is a citizen of the Union. EU citizenship, which supplements national citizenship without replacing it, grants citizens the right to move freely and to reside on the territory of the member states (Article 18).