On lots of forums, suddenly lots of questiosn about Smart Move Italy and how good they are. It almost seems like publicity.

 

Why would you hire them for the 'application'? One only needs to hire an Italian lawyer versed in 1948 cases who will guide you on what is required for documentation based on the viable line. It's a fairly easy DIY task for gathering documents, apostiles etc. I went through this back in 2017-2019 ( i was recognized in July 2019). I hired a lawyer in Bologna, Marco Mellone, highly recommend. However, since then the government has changed laws because the court in Rome was overwhelmed with cases, now they hold your case in the court of the region that your ancestor you are applying through came from. Are you based in the US? If so, the best and most informative group on FB is the place to start, read through all the 'Units' to educate yourself on the process and then go from there. It's a wealth of information. Log into Facebook "Dual US-Italian Citizenship"

Also, regarding 'service providers'. There are companies who you can pay to do everything for you, in terms of gathering the documention etc (not filing your case) but they are VERY EXPENSIVE and honestly not worth it. A simple email/phone call to your local town hall gets you a certified birth record. However, the services one will rely on will be the official translation of all documents (non Italian) into Italian, many people (including myself) use the website "Fiverr" for this, there are many translators there that you simply email your docs to and then send them back translated for a fee. The other service many people pay for, if needed, is someone who can procure your ancestor's birth records from the comune(s) in Italy, which btw have to be done in a particular format. I was pretty lucky and found a pre-formatted request form that I modified and sent to my comunes in Caserta. I received one back in a fairly timely manner and the other i picked up in person on a vacation trip. Some comunes however are extremely difficult to deal with and do not always respond to requests. There are a few well known people on the ground in Italy who can do this for you and IIRC I know of one guy who's fee is less than $100 for one document. Not sure if Smart Move Italy will do just this one task for you. But again, all the document collecting takes place in your home country aside from your ancestor's birth records in Italy, then once ready, everything is sent to your Lawyer in Italy for them to file the case on your behalf.

Good luck.