Marco M. wanted to pursue Italian citizenship by descent for a long time, but he didn’t get the chance until his retirement. He knew that it would be best to have assistance throughout the process, so after doing much research online, he settled with ICA due to their lengthy track record in assisting with Italian citizenship.
The ancestor who Marco tracked for citizenship was his grandfather, an Italian war veteran from the First World War who immigrated to the U.S. afterwards. Significantly, Marco applied for Italian citizenship on the 100th year anniversary of his grandfather moving to the U.S. While his grandfather docked in the U.S. in October of 1923, he didn’t get his U.S. citizenship until 1948, allowing him to pass on Italian citizenship to his children and grandchildren.
Obtaining Italian citizenship was a retirement project for Marco, who had long wanted to do it but hadn’t found the time around his busy career as an engineer and manager for an aerospace company in Colorado. Upon retiring, he and his wife moved to Hawaii. Marco could’ve applied for citizenship via a consulate, but he knew it would’ve taken quite some time. While it was a long journey from Hawaii to Italy, it was worth it to him, not only for a speedier application process but because of the meaningfulness of living in his grandfather’s country for a period. He documented the journey and said “it will live with us forever.” It was important to Marco to finally get his citizenship because his father was an Italian citizen, his grandparents were, he loves Italy and the people, and he visits a lot and wants to make trips to Italy a larger part of his future.
Marco usually visits Tuscany when he comes to Italy, but part of the reason he wanted to live in Italy during the citizenship process was so that he and his wife could travel more and see some different places around the country. He also enjoys Italian life, appreciating that the lifestyle is more relaxed, in general, than the U.S. Being based in Rovigo allowed them to easily explore Bologna, Modena, and Verona, to name just a few. He was happy to see some places off the usual tourist path.
This also allowed Marco to do some more research on his grandfather. For instance, he found out that during the war, he was stationed near Rovigo, with the same view of the mountains Marco got to enjoy from his apartment. “There were lots of similar strange findings like this,” Marco recalls. One of the eeriest was the fact that, unknowingly, Marco visited Naples the exact day, 100 years later, that his grandfather departed Italy.
He also got to learn some more about his family in Lazio. His cousin gave him a family tree going back to the 1500s. And when Marco got his DNA tested, he discovered it went all the way back to the Etruscans, one of the earliest civilizations in Italy.
The only thing Marco wishes he could change about his experience would be to start learning Italian earlier than he did. He is taking a few classes and plans to continue practicing once he’s home.
Regarding the future, Marco isn’t sure if he’ll ever live in Italy full time, but he wanted the chance. “The way I look at life, you keep your options open.” For the time being, he plans to go back and forth. If he and his wife do relocate to Italy, they think they’ll probably end up in their favorite region, Tuscany. Marco’s journey has been inspiring and motivating for other family members, including his daughters who are now interested in applying, as well as his siblings.
Marco was very satisfied with ICA, and has been telling people that the best way to go about Italian citizenship is to get professional help. “There are too many things you don’t know. You’re better off just going with the experts.” He’d found a two-year wait at a New York office for a particular document, while ICA managed to get it in only a couple months. When ICA started collecting documents for his application, he found it all very interesting. He enjoyed seeing his grandparents’ birth certificates and letters of immigration. Marco in particular wants to thank Elena Botton.
Now that he has his Italian citizenship and has been documenting his 8-month journey, he wants to create a document about all he learned about his family. It’s already 50 pages long, and he isn’t finished yet!
Marco has agreed to serve as a subject of this success story and has granted ICA the right to use his name and image
