Monday, 07 September 2026
Avv. Salvatore Aprigliano named Advisory Excellence 2026 Citizenship by Descent Expert of the Year in Italy
Aprigliano International Law Firm is pleased to announce that Avv. Salvatore Aprigliano has been named Citizenship by Descent Expert of the Year, Italy at the Advisory Excellence Annual 2026 Awards. The recognition is awarded annually by Advisory Excellence to professionals and firms distinguished by expertise, client outcomes, and leadership in their field.
What the Advisory Excellence Annual Awards recognize
Advisory Excellence is an independent international directory that identifies and recognizes leading professionals across legal, financial, and advisory sectors. The Annual Awards are assigned on the basis of professional track record, sector expertise, and demonstrated client impact, not on the basis of submissions or fees. Being named Expert of the Year in a specific country and category reflects a sustained record of work at the highest level of the field.
The 2026 award recognizes Avv. Aprigliano specifically in the category of citizenship by descent, the area of Italian law that has undergone its most significant transformation in decades following the introduction of the Tajani Decree in March 2025.
What Avv. Aprigliano and the firm have built
Avv. Salvatore Aprigliano founded Aprigliano International Law Firm in Milan in 2002. Admitted to the Milan Bar in 2006 and to the Court of Cassation Bar Association in 2018, he has spent more than two decades focusing exclusively on Italian citizenship by descent, guiding individuals and families through the judicial process of establishing eligibility for Italian citizenship through ancestry.
The firm has assisted over 6,000 clients and handled more than 2,000 cases, serving Italian descendants primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Argentina. Its team of more than 50 professionals, attorneys, legal analysts, genealogists, and case managers, covers every stage of the process, from genealogical research and document preparation to litigation strategy, AIRE registration, and passport issuance.
The firm’s work in 2026 has included landmark rulings in a legal landscape fundamentally changed by the Tajani reform: Court of Bologna ruling no. 3335/2026 of April 17, 2026, recognizing Italian citizenship for an 11-member US family spanning second through fourth generations filed after the reform; Court of Bologna ruling no. 4038/2026 of May 13, 2026; Court of Campobasso ruling no. 408/2026 of May 29, 2026, accepting the Italian birth extract as sufficient proof of non-naturalization; and Court of Palermo judgment of June 29, 2026, recognizing citizenship in a pre-1948 maternal-line case involving an involuntary naturalization by marriage.
Why this recognition matters in 2026
The timing of this award is significant. Italian citizenship by descent has entered its most technically demanding phase in over a century. The Tajani Decree, in force since March 28, 2025, fundamentally changed who can claim recognition and on what grounds. Constitutional Court Decision No. 63/2026, the ongoing proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union following Order No. 147/2026, and the Supreme Court’s Joint Sections ruling no. 24045/2026 on the minor age issue have each added new layers of complexity to a field that demands both legal precision and strategic clarity.
In this context, being recognized as the leading expert in citizenship by descent in Italy is not only a professional distinction, it is a signal to clients, courts, and peers that the firm’s approach to this evolving area of law has been validated at the highest level.
A note to our clients
This award belongs, first and foremost, to the clients who have trusted Aprigliano International Law Firm with some of the most important legal decisions of their lives. Recognizing an Italian heritage, recovering a citizenship that connects families to their history, and navigating a legal system that has changed dramatically, none of this is a routine matter. Every case is different, and every outcome depends on the precision and commitment with which it is built.
We remain committed to the same standard of work that earned this recognition: rigorous legal analysis, transparent communication, and a case-by-case approach that never applies generic solutions to individual situations.
Find out whether you are eligible
If you are a descendant of an Italian-born ancestor and want to understand which path to Italian citizenship by descent remains open for your situation, a case-specific review is the first step.