Jure sangiuinis / Great Grandmother sold to another family / naturalization under father

[ga_a_p]

I have been a long-time reader of this forum and have spent countless hours reading all of the wonderful information and discussions primarily related to Italian citizenship. I've spent the last couple months digging into my family's history and am wondering if there is a viable path to dual-citizenship in my situation. There are two scenarios I'm looking into, the first is fairly straight forward and is as follows:

GGGF - Born in Italy was naturalized in 1923
GGF - Born in Italy in 1908

I was able to locate a naturalization record for my GGGF, however it looks as though my GGF never naturalized. I found contradictory information as to whether my GGF would be considered to be naturalized under his father (as he was a minor - 13 years old) at the time of his father's naturalization. If this does, in fact, mean that my GGF's citizenship would have been terminated as well?

The second scenario is a bit more complicated:

GGGF - Born in Italy and naturalized in 1927
GGM - Born in Pennsylvania in 1911

I have read a few posts that mentioned that children were only considered to be naturalized if they were born outside of the country; does this mean that my GGM would have retained her Italian citizenship which she acquired at birth? There is another complicating factor: as she told my grandmother, who recorded her story, she was sold to another family at the age of five and was not under her father's care at the time of his naturalization. The issue with this is that it is quite difficult to prove. I have been scouring census records and have found very little information which would prove this to be the case.

I truly appreciate any assistance in making sense of these laws/conditions.

[mler]

The first scenario doesn’t work. Your Italy born ggf did indeed naturalize with his father. This is called derivative naturalization, and because he is listed on his father’s papers, he would not have his own naturalization record.

Since your gm was born in the US, she retained the Italian citizenship she obtained at birth even after her father naturalized. If the child born to her in your line was born in 1948 or later, it is a straightforward jure sanguinis case through the consulate. If the birth took place after 1948, you would have to go through the courts.

[mler]

I should add that you need not bother to prove that your ggm was sold. If this was, in fact, the case, it has no bearing on her citizenship status. She was born with Italian citizenship because her father was an Italian citizen when she was born. Her father’s subsequent naturalization had no effect on her status. As a natural born American citizen, she could not herself naturalize and thus could not lose Italian citizenship.

This is the viable line.