Citizenship in Roman Law

Europe, and Italy in particular, have been the recipients - in recent years - of intense migratory flows, which have required the attention of the legislator to address the problems arising from the phenomenon in question. An in-depth reflection is therefore required, aimed at reviewing the whole issue of immigration and proposing to verify the applicability of the principle of equality in perspective with its reconciliation with the principle of popular sovereignty. A new concept of citizenship is taking shape. How does the concept of citizenship change? How does the acquisition of citizen status interact with the legal system that regulates it? To answer these questions it is necessary to "historicize" the concept of citizenship, studying it in its historical evolution. The deepening of the state of “civis” in ancient Rome and its various functions and attributions constitutes an indispensable prius in consideration of the strong influence that the Roman legal culture has had in the formation of Italian and European legal science. This work takes a brief historical excursus of the institution of citizenship from the origins of the Urbs to the Constitutio Antoniniana, better known as the Edict of Caracalla, with which the Emperor granted the status of cives to all the inhabitants of the empire (212 AD). Then, a paragraph is dedicated to the actual legislation on subject of citizenship in Italy, founded on Law 91/1992 and following modifications. The final conclusions suggest to look to the experience of Roman legal system like a model for a new concept of citizenship.