The letter from the Consolato Generale D’Italia a San Francisco arrived in the mail today. The words inside the envelope were a culmination of three long years of hard work and dogged determination: 31/08/11 Dear Ms. DeBella: “I am pleased to notify you that your Italian citizenship has been recognized and that your certificate(s) have been forwarded to the Italian municipality of CORLEONE (PA) for recording.”
Somehow I envisioned this auspicious occasion much differently. There were times when I wondered if this day would ever come. And if it did arrive, I imagined it would be filled with much fanfare, jumping up and down, and screaming. Instead it was a quiet moment. A solitary moment. A very personal moment. It was a time to reflect on what it took for me to get to this place: Patience, tenacity, belief, humor, and a clear intention. August 31, 2011 is the day I became a citizen of Italy.
Italian by Blood Jure sanguinis (“right of blood”) contrasts with jus soli (Latin: “right of soil”) in that citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but rather by having a parent (or decendent) who is a citizen of a nation. In Italy there’s no limit to the generations that can obtain citizenship via blood (except for specific constraints which did not apply to me). Furthermore, because the U.S. and Italy have a reciprocity agreement, one is allowed dual citizenship.
After tracking down my grandparents’ birth certificates (likely located in books archived in church basements of Corleone and Contessa Entellina), respectively, I gathered together some twenty other documents (i.e., birth, death, divorce) for both myself and members of my immediate family. Translations and Apostilles followed, along with a list of discrepancies and misspelled names (of which there were many). And don’t even get me started on the rabbit hole that is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security! This part of the process took a little over a year to complete. Then there was the waiting period (one-and-a half years, to be exact) for an appointment to personally submit my application to the Italian Consulate.
The procedure was daunting, frustrating, and at times discouraging. When I felt like giving up, I thought about the finish line — life in Italy — which helped to spur me on. I suppose that if becoming a citizen of a country were easy, everyone would do it. You really have to want it!
The Gift
I Nonni DeBella, San Jose, California
Throughout these three years I’ve been fortunate to have the support and encouragement of friends and family, both in the U.S. and Italy. But it was my grandparents, Jake (Gioachino) DiBella and Emma (Ninfa) Pizzo, who deserve my utmost thanks and gratitude for without them none of this would be possible. In the late 1880s, they came to this country as young immigrants from Sicily. They married, worked hard, and raised a family of ten children. I wonder what they would have thought about their granddaughter one day returning to the land they left behind.
It appears that the DeBella family, in the not-too-distant future, is about to come full circle.
Orvieto or Bust: 
How GREAT! Congratulations on your Italian Citizenship! Love, Janet
Bravissima! Congrats – hard-earned but worth it.
Grazie! Sounds like you know something about that. Like your blog, by the way. I am very new at this “blogging” thing. Hope to someday have the readership that you obviously do. Congrats on your success and thanks for writing. toni
Congrats, Toni. I have followed your blog since May of this year and a trip of my own to Orvieto. What a lovely place. I have so envied your time there and your ability to set up home there even for six months at a time. I returned home so enchanted by the place that for two months I was miserable. The at three months I got a wild hair and booked a ticket to go in two weeks. In the meantime, your blog has been food for my soul and encouragement to return some day again. Thanks you for the love you put into it.
Stephie, Thank you so much for writing. Another one who has “fallen” for Orvieto…they are piling up. I know what you mean about feeling miserable when you are not there. Everyday that I am away I feel a little piece of my soul is missing, but I feel I am closer than ever to my goal. Remember, don’t give up on your dreams. Toni
awesome! congrats! my family and i sweated through the process too. that letter is cause for celebration!
You keep me hopeful. I soon will begin this process and I can only hope that I will get the result that you did…eventually. :0)
Jen, If I can do it, you can do it. Believe!!!! Baci. Toni
Congratulations! My family and I did the same thing — worth the sweat and tears!
Thank you so much! You are so right. Worth it and there is a great feeling of accomplishment to know that you followed through on something that not everyone who is eligible is willing to tackle. Complimenti and thank you for writing. Toni
Congratulations! I too go my recognition back in January 2011, and what a feeling it was! Somewhat sureal, but pretty much the same feeligs you had. To any other interested Italian Americans, go for it, its your blood right, because YOU are Italians!
Frank. Congratulations to you too! I am in Italy at the moment and I actually heard myself say to someone “we” have._____in Italy. WE!!!! I am looking forward to voting in the election – a privilege of citizenship that I will take very seriously. Toni
I just found your blog and congratulations! I am also a granddaughter of Sicilian immigrants and I met some of my dad’s cousins in Rome some 40 years ago, yet dreamed of going to Sicily to visit Prizzi (PA), where many family members of my grandparents’ generation were born in the early 1900’s. Few of those still living (in America) know anything about Sicily. A year and a half ago I finally got my chance; wow, is Sicily beautiful! I spent 8 wonderful days touring the island, and it was an emotional Deja Vu when I met my Sicilian cousins. I was back in my childhood and I could imagine my grandfather, great-aunts and great-uncles, cousins, plus my father and his many cousins walking the cobblestone hills, visiting with neighbors and relatives and partaking of the marvelous food.
Next month I go back to Italy, first as a tourist in Florence for a week, then to Sicily and Prizzi for another couple of weeks. (My extended family there wanted me to stay for a few months but I must come back to work). I will meet more extended family members, improve my meager Italiano while I tutor the youngsters in their English studies. I’m thinking that in a few years when I retire I may be able to spend a year in Sicily. I am an educator and I would love to be a volunteer tutor. Could I become a citizen? Possibly? That seems a daunting task; my immediate family is in America and there were many name spelling changes; can I even find the records?
Toni. First of all I can’t believe we have the same name, are from similar backgrounds and have a common pull to our Italian roots. This blog has connected me with so many interesting and like-minded people – it is one of the unexpected results of my new-found passion of writing. I am not sure about your particular circumstances, but as far as name changes go, that can be explained. What you need to do is go on the website for the Italian Consulate that is nearest you and look under the tab for Consular services and to Citizenship. Read to see if you meet the requirements, but based on the little you have told me, it can be done. The catch will be if your Italian Grandparents became US citizen’s before your father or mother was born. If not, you need to get the list and start working on it. It can be done…I am living proof of it. Thank you again for writing. I am writing you at this very moment from Orvieto. I will be here a week and then will be back again in mid February for 2 months. If your trip happens to coincide with mine, please let me know and perhaps we can meet while you are in Toscana. In bocca al lupo. Toni