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“...needs to welcome back those of European heritage from around the world. Italy has been better than many European nations at this...”

That’s not quite what I’ve heard. I have a friend whose mom was a native born Italian citizen. Friend born in the U.S.. Now, you’d think that having an Italian citizen mother would be enough for daughter to acquire Italian citizenship, right? Not exactly. It took my friend like 5 years. She had to go to interviews. She had to prove some level of proficiency with the language, along with a bunch of other hurdles.

In a lot of other Euro countries, a child of a native-born citizen would be an automatic without all those hassles.

"Now, you’d think that having an Italian citizen mother would be enough for daughter to acquire Italian citizenship, right? Not exactly. It took my friend like 5 years. She had to go to interviews. She had to prove some level of proficiency with the language, along with a bunch of other hurdles."

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Your friend just needs to use the priority application process.

That’s not quite what I’ve heard. I have a friend whose mom was a native born Italian citizen. Friend born in the U.S.. Now, you’d think that having an Italian citizen mother would be enough for daughter to acquire Italian citizenship, right? Not exactly. It took my friend like 5 years. She had to go to interviews. She had to prove some level of proficiency with the language, along with a bunch of other hurdles.
In a lot of other Euro countries, a child of a native-born citizen would be an automatic without all those hassles.

Italy is infamous for its bureaucracy. The natives know how to get around it, sometimes with a bribe. AFAIK, the child of an Italian citizen is a citizen by law. That said, there is more than a bit of resentment at Americans having dual citizenship in Europe without mastering the language, performing military service, etc. Italian is easier to learn than some other European languages, especially if someone studied Spanish or French in school. Yes, you would think it would be easier for people to return to Europe, but they don't make it easy for them. People who want to return for their retirement are welcome to bring their pensions with them, but younger people looking to work will have problems. They don't want to recognize citizenship easily.

"In a lot of other Euro countries, a child of a native-born citizen would be an automatic without all those hassles."

I consider myself an expert on this subject and you're correct. Italy hasn't been "better than many European nations at this. . ." [making it easy for those of Italian citizenship to immigrate to Italy.] In fact it is among the worst, if not THE worst. Acquiring Italian citizenship, or residency for that matter, is an absolutely convoluted, expensive nightmare - unless you're a "refugee," then it's all "on the house.".

I live in Sicily and have been here, off and on, for about ten years. Acquiring residency permits every year has been a gut-wrenching, expensive nightmare, fraught with administrative incompetency and wrapped in an inconsistent bureaucratic maze that would bring any sane person to tears and despondency.

Even acquiring Italian citizenship "jur sanguinis," that is through an unbroken chain of Italian ancestors, will take the average person thousands of dollars (4-6) and years of bullshit to accomplish.

I have permanent residency, which to my utter shock and surprise, was recently granted to me. The process has been an absolute nightmare and there were many times I thought, "Eff this, I'm out."

Now, here's the kicker that demolishes the fantasy that the "conservative" Italian government has been moving towards welcoming back those of Italian heritage: Until this year, non-EU foreigners, with legal residency, had to pay ~387 Euros to use the National Health Care System, which believe it or not, is excellent. However, this year, the fee was arbitrarily increased at the last minute to (drum roll please. . . )a minimum of 2,000 Euros. This affects, overwhelmingly mainly American and British expats, you know, those productive, law abiding folks that contribute to the Italian economy, don't sponge off social services and follow the law.

Now, you might ask who's exempt from this outrageous fee? If you said African, Syrian, Afghan and all other "refugees," most of whom are Muslim, you'd be correct! On top of that steaming pile of unfairness, toss Ukrainian "refugees." The 2,000 fee is being used to cover the costs of giving these folks free everything. Ugh.

Ain't socialism grand?. . .

The fact is, the Meloni government is all "conservative" talk but globalist-supporting in deed.

The flood of Third World "refugees" flooding into Italy continues unabated, in spite of Meloni's big talk while campaigning, of stopping that flood. She'd make an excellent RINO in the US.

When it comes to ease of immigration for those of European heritage, look at Ireland. My high school buddy, who was born in the US to a father of Irish heritage simply filled out a form in the US, provided copies of his birth certificate and afew other easily procurable documents, sent it to the Irish Embassy and within a few months he had an Irish passport.

I'll leave you with this story: Years ago, I was having serious problems with continuing my residency here and had just exited another meeting with incompetent clowns at another government office. When I walked out, a good friend of mine was outside so I started telling him what was up. Another Sicilian guy joined the conversation and said this to me: "You must be like Negro - get in rubber boat and come to shore like refugee. It will all be free then!"

And he is right.