Here is some info on how to obtain and who can obtain dual Italian US
citizenship.

Text below taken from : http://www.arduini.net/tools/citizen.htm

The following information was provided by the Italian Consulate in Los
Angeles, California in response to a request for information on the Italian
citizenship status of Americans of Italian descent.

It is important to recognize that while it may once have been true that U.S.
Citizens could not hold dual citizenship, U.S. Supreme Court decisions in
the 1970s settled the issue once and for all: Dual citizenship for American
citizens is legal.

The hurdle one must clear, therefore, is whether or not one meets the
requirements of the other nation involved. In the case of Italy and under
Italian law, the taking of the American Oath of Citizenship constitutes a
voluntary surrender of your Italian citizenship. So, for many of us, our
naturalized grandparents surrendered their Italian citizenship.

But this is where it gets interesting. For if their children were born in
this country, then they were automatically American citizens, having to take
no oath renunciating any Italian citizenship which was gained (under Italian
law) by being born to parents who were Italian citizens. In other words,
since both my parents were born before their parents naturalized, they
remained Italian citizens according to Italian law.

That same law extends the citizenship one more generation, through either
paternal or maternal lines. Here then, in the words of the Italian
Consulate, are the steps required to formally recognize that dual
citizenship, and gain an Italian passport (along with full recognition as a
member of the European Community, an issue of no small economic importance
to many of us).

Consolato Generale D'Italia
12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 820-0622
INFORMATION ON ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR U.S. CITIZENS OF ITALIAN DESCENT

If you were born in the United States you may also be considered an Italian
citizen if any one of the situations listed below pertains to you:

1) your father was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth and you
never renounced your right to Italian citizenship;

2) your mother was an Italian citizen at the time of your birth, you were
born after January 1, 1948 (and before April 27, 1965) and you never
renounced your Italian citizenship;

3) your paternal grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of your
father's birth and neither you nor your father ever renounced your Italian
citizenship;

4) your maternal grandmother was an Italian citizen at the time of your
mother's birth, you were born after January 1, 1948 and neither you nor your
mother ever renounced your rights to Italian citizenship.

IF #1 APPLIES TO YOU, you must obtain the following documents:
- your father's birth certificate (write to the comune where your father was
born, enclose three or four dollars, and request his birth certificate);
- your parent's marriage certificate (if the marriage took place in Italy
follow the procedure described above for birth certificate; if it took place
in the United States you must obtain a certified copy of the marriage
certificate from city hall);
- if applicable, his death certificate;
- your birth certificate (certified copy);
- your father's naturalization certificate, or a statement from U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service stating that your father was never
naturalized, or his current Italian passport and alien registration card.
This serves to prove that if your father became a naturalized U.S. citizen
this occurred after your birth (**if it occurred before your birth you are
not entitled to Italian citizenship**).
IF #2 APPLIES TO YOU, you must do **all of the above**, but with regards to
your MOTHER.

IF #3 APPLIES TO YOU, you must obtain your paternal grandfather's birth
certificate from Italy, his marriage license, and all of the documents
listed for #1, except for your father's naturalization certificate, because
in this case you will need your paternal grandfather's naturalization
papers.

IF #4 APPLIES TO YOU, you must obtain your maternal grandfather's birth
certificate, his marriage certificate, and all the documents listed for #2,
except for your mother's naturalization certificate, because in this case
you will need your maternal grandfather's naturalization papers.

If you are a resident of the jurisdiction of this Consulate General
(Arizona, New Mexico, California (counties of San Luis Obispo, Kern, San
Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego,
Imperial Valley, and Orange), you should bring all the pertinent
documentation to this Office between the hours of 8:30 and 12:00 noon,
Monday through Friday. We will forward all the certificates issued in the
United States to Italy to be recorded there. After we have been notified
that the documents have been accepted and recorded, a process which
generally takes four to six months, you may apply for an Italian passport.

If you are a male under the age of forty-five, once your documents are
recorded, you will have military obligations to Italy, which can generally
be fulfilled by completing the necessary paperwork. However, this means that
if you are under the age of twenty-six you may not permanently reside in
Italy for reasons other than study unless you wish to serve in the Italian
armed forces.

PLEASE NOTE:
- If your parents became U.S. citizens when you were a minor, or if you were
a minor on April 21, 1983, you will have to sign a statement with which you
opt for the Italian citizenship.
- If you were a minor on April 21, 1983, and your father or mother
(depending on whom you are tracing your citizenship through) became a
naturalized U.S. citizen after that date, you have lost your right to
Italian citizenship.

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT ANY OF THE ABOVE PROCEDURES MAY AFFECT YOUR U.S.
CITIZENSHIP YOU SHOULD CONTACT THE LOCAL U.S. AUTHORITIES

Here is a great story on one man's quest to obtain dual citizenship:
http://www.escapeartist.com/efan/living_in_italy.htm

Hope this helps someone.

Cristina

In a message dated 03/04/2002 10:25:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
siena_us@yahoo.com writes:

<< INFORMATION ON ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR U.S. CITIZENS OF ITALIAN DESCENT >>

Excellent information! Also, if you are going through grandparents, your 
birth date becomes important too.  My brother was born in 1947 and does not 
qualify; whereas I was born in the 50s and pass that test. There's a 1948 
dividing line for some reason. 

Once you learn that you qualify, then the fun begins.  You must document your 
lineage from birth records in Italy to marriages certificates, birth 
certificates and naturalization papers. All must be official copies and the 
US documents must have an apostile affixed (issued by states attesting to 
international standards -- La Haye Convention -- that the document is a true 
and valid record). Some documents must be translated into Italian. The big 
tripping point is with spelling of names.  So many names were anglicized upon 
arrival in the US or first names like Oto might become Otis.  I have a friend 
who is having an enormous amount of difficulty because the "a" that was 
originally at the end of her surname had mysteriously been changed to an "o". 
Some arrivals at the turn of the last century were illiterate adding to the 
problem of communication.  Sometimes the American clerks couldn't deal with 
the names and got creative or just wrote poorly.  More often than not these 
inconsistencies must be corrected.  This is where I spent most of my time.  I 
started to think that this was a test of my ability to deal with Italian 
bureaucracy; so I just plodded along, stayed the course and now have my 
amended documents in good order.  In my case my grandfather never became 
naturalized in the US.  It gets a little tricky when you have to prove 
something that never happened.  A very precise statement from the state 
department atttesting to this finally did the trick.  

The best thing about this exercise, though, is what you learn about your 
Italian forebears -- their hopes, dreams, trials, and their particular 
journies that have influenced us to this day.  Armed with all my information, 
in July last year I was able to visit the farm where my grandfather was born 
and brought up before he came to America in his teens. It is located in 
Ariano Irpino (Avellino province).  It was a very emotional and valuable 
experience to say the least.

Tom