Want to become Italian? If you have Italian ancestors in your family tree, it might be easier than you realize. Thanks to the rule of jure sanguinis ("the right of blood"), Italy is one of the few countries in the world to offer the possibility of citizenship to many people who can trace their family roots back to an Italian ancestor.

There's fine print, of course. It has to be an Italian ancestor who didn't naturalize to a different nationality until the next person in the line of descent was born. So, for example, if your grandfather was born in Italy and your dad was born in the United States before your grandfather became a US citizen, you are likely eligible for Italian citizenship.