An Italian citizen can lose his or her citizenship automatically or by formal renunciation.
Citizenship is automatically lost whenever an Italian citizen falls under one of the three following categories:
- the Italian citizen who voluntarily enlists in the army of a foreign State or accepts public employment or a public office in a foreign State despite being expressly prohibited from doing so by the Italian government (12, paragraph 1 of Law no. 91/92);
- the Italian citizen who, during the state of war with a foreign State, has performed military service for or held a public office of or has acquired the citizenship of the enemy State ( 12, paragraph 2 of Law no. 91/92);
the Italian citizen who, having gained Italian citizenship by adoption, causes the revocation of the adoption, provided that he or she possesses or acquires another citizenship (art. 3, paragraph 3 of Law no. 91/92).