In Aaron’s own words…
Growing up, I was always deeply connected to my Italian heritage. I often listened to my grandparents share stories about the “Old Country” with my father. Nonno recounted tales of the village in Piemonte where our family roots run deep. These stories were not just about my ancestors; they were living memories that shaped the way I saw the world. So, when my wife and I visited Italy in 2019, it felt like the perfect time to deepen those ties and explore how we could pass this heritage onto our children.
Inspired by our trip, we began discussing how we could embrace our Italian roots more fully. My wife, feeling a kinship with Italian culture and always proactive, reached out to Marco’s team at ICA after watching several of his podcasts. We hoped to find a way to qualify for Italian citizenship by descent through my paternal grandfather. To our excitement, ICA confirmed that our two boys and I were indeed eligible and offered to guide us through the complex process of gathering documents and meeting the requirements.
Although my nonno was born in California, his parents were born and raised in Italy. After marrying in the U.S. and having children, my great-grandparents returned to their hometown in Piemonte following World War I. They brought my grandfather and his sister with them, where he grew up and worked as a woodcraftsman near Turin before eventually moving back to California in adulthood. As we began researching our family history—scrutinizing ship passenger lists, census records, and historical documents—we slowly pieced together the story of their lives. Through this journey, ICA was an invaluable partner, helping us secure key documents essential for our citizenship application.
Our first significant challenge came when we discovered that my great-grandparents’ marriage certificate didn’t exist in official records. They had married in Native American Territory—what is now Oklahoma—before it became a state in 1907. Since no formal marriage certificate was available, we feared this could derail our application. However, Eleonora, our ICA advisor, uncovered a digital image of the marriage registry in the Oklahoma archives. With her expert guidance, I was able to request a letter verifying the authenticity of the copy, as the original had been lost over time.
Another obstacle arose when we sought my grandfather’s birth certificate. Despite other documents clearly stating when and where he was born, California had no record of his birth, which occurred in 1907. Eleonora again provided invaluable guidance, advising me to request a hearing with the county court judge for a delayed birth registration. This request was highly unusual—especially since it was being made more than thirty years after my grandfather’s death. In fact, the judge had never encountered such a case before. However, after reviewing our documentation and hearing our appeal, the judge granted the request, and my grandfather’s birth was officially recorded.
The pandemic added another layer of complexity to the process. With government offices closed and delays mounting, the process slowed down. Still, Eleonora and the ICA team worked tirelessly, ensuring we met every bureaucratic challenge with precision. They helped us compile a meticulously organized application, complete with hard-to-find Italian records, certified translations, and Apostilles, all crucial for the consulate’s approval.
Despite the delays, ICA remained calm, focused, and reassuring. They guided us through each step, ensured we submitted everything correctly, and kept us informed along the way. Then, at long last, the day came for our consular appointments. Thanks to ICA’s thorough preparation, the interviews went smoothly, and shortly thereafter, we received our official letters from A.I.R.E. confirming our Italian citizenship. I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered the final stretch: waiting for our passport appointments.
In the meantime, we celebrated our citizenship in a meaningful way. My wife crafted an unforgettable trip across Northern Italy for our family, including my parents and our two boys, Caden and Cole. Through the travel division of her company AMG Inspired, she arranged a custom itinerary that included a visit to our ancestral roots in Piemonte. She hired a driver to take us to Giaudrone, our family’s namesake village, and to Cuorgnè, the town near Turin where my grandfather grew up. Walking the same streets my grandfather had known as a boy and seeing our name on the signpost was a deeply emotional experience, as if we had stepped into our family’s history.
While in Italy, we also stopped in Rovigo for a delicious lunch with Marco and Eleonora. It was a wonderful opportunity to finally meet the people who had been instrumental in our journey, putting faces to the names we had worked with for so long.
Now, years after we began this journey, our two boys—who were in high school when we started—are now young adults, and our efforts have finally come to fruition. After clearing the final hurdle at the consulate, we were thrilled when our Italian passports arrived in the mail, marking the culmination of our efforts. Our only bittersweet regret was that we hadn’t started the process sooner, before a law changed which would have allowed my wife to be included in our application without having to pass a language test. While she is currently working to meet the B1 language requirement, she will now need to navigate her own additional, lengthy process of applying for citizenship.
Nevertheless, our status as dual citizens has opened up a wealth of opportunities for our family. As we continue to build deeper connections, we’ll further explore the country in which we’ve reestablished our ties. We now have the freedom to live, work, and travel indefinitely throughout Italy and the European Union. Caden and Cole now also have the option to pursue internships or graduate programs in the EU, expanding their horizons in ways we never imagined.
We are immensely grateful to our friends at ICA for facilitating our successful journey. The team’s expertise, patience, and commitment turned our dream of becoming Italian citizens into a reality. We will forever be thankful to them for helping us reconnect with our heritage and secure a future that honors our family’s legacy.
Aaron has agreed to serve as a subject of this success story and has granted ICA the right to use his name and image.
