Italian citizenship is for many South Americans an appealing loophole that leads to an easy visa-free entry to many countries, first and foremost the United States. Passports are not all worth the same; they are ranked according to their power of letting citizens into the largest number of countries without a visa, or with as little bureaucracy as possible.

Having a passport of the European Union can open many doors and getting the hands on the Italian one is actually easier than one might think. According to the Passport Index, the most powerful passport in the world, the only one in the first category with number 1 as its “passport power rank” is the United Arab Emirates’ passport, which allows its holders to access visa-free 167 countries.