Franceschini says move would address gender inequality.

A proposed bill for children in Italy to be automatically assigned their mother's surname when they are registered at birth has sparked a heated debate among politicians.

The idea was put forward on Tuesday by senator Dario Franceschini, a senior figure in the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) and former culture minister, during a party meeting to discuss a proposed law for double surnames.

Constitutional court

Three years ago Italy's constitutional court ruled that the existing rules requiring children to be given automatically only their father’s surname were unlawful, defining them as "discriminatory and harmful to the identity of the child."

Children should be given the surnames of both parents, Italy's top court said, in the order agreed on by the parents. If parents cannot decide on the order of the surnames, the decision would be up to a judge. The child's parents may also decide, by mutual agreement, to assign the surname of just one or the other, the court ruled.

However since the 2022 ruling the legislation has been stuck in parliament, and is currently being discussed in the senate, prompting Franceschini to reignite the debate.

Gender inequality

"Instead of creating endless problems with the management of double surnames or with the choice between the father's and the mother's, after centuries in which children have taken their father's surname, we must establish that from the new law they will only take their mother's surname," Franceschini said.

“Ai figli solo il cognome della madre. Anziché creare infiniti problemi con la gestione dei doppi cognomi, dopo secoli in cui i figli hanno preso il cognome del padre, stabiliamo che dalla nuova legge prenderanno il solo il cognome della madre. E’ una cosa semplice ed anche un…— Dario Franceschini (@dariofrance) March 25, 2025

The PD senator described the proppsed move as "a simple thing", adding that it would also be "compensation for a centuries-old injustice that has not only had a symbolic value, but has been one of the cultural and social sources of gender inequality".For now it remains a verbal proposal however Franeschini assures that it will soon become a real bill that will be presented to the senate in the coming days.Reaction

Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy premier and leader of the right-wing Lega party, was quick to slam Franceschini's proposal.

"Here are the great priorities of the Italian left. Instead of a double surname, take away the father's surname from children!" - Salvini fumed on X - "Of course, let's wipe these fathers off the face of the earth, that way we'll solve all the problems."

Ecco le grandi priorità della sinistra italiana: invece del doppio cognome, togliere ai bimbi il cognome del padre! Ma certo, cancelliamoli dalla faccia della terra questi papà, così risolviamo tutti i problemi… Ma dove le pensano ste idee geniali? pic.twitter.com/lLFhRgBZDh— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) March 25, 2025

Federico Mollicone, a prominent member of prime minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party, said the proposed move would shift "from patriarchy to matriarchy", while senator Pierantino Zanettin, of the centre-right Forza Italia, said it seemed "more like a provocation aimed above all at media attention".There was more measured criticism from the president of the senate's justice commission, Giulia Bongiorno of the Lega, who called for "a point of balance that does not make any parent invisible".Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Azione party, drily asked if there were no other priorities, while there was even criticism from PD deputy Stefano Lepri who claimed that the father's surname "is not an outdated legacy of the patriarchy, but rather the first way to prevent a man from limiting himself to his reproductive function", reports Avvenire.

The idea was welcomed by the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) and other PD colleagues of Franceschini including senator Valeria Valente who spoke of the attribution of the mother's surname to children as "a battle of civilisation", and Laura Boldrini who said: "Like every attempt to restore to women the equality that has been denied for too long, even in the parental sphere and in the attribution of the surname, it is welcome".

However the president emeritus of the constitutional court, Cesare Mirabelli, believes the bill will "not even reach parliament", telling news agency Adnkronos that "an inequality cannot be remedied by overturning it and introducing another".

The bill will be "open to criticism and challenge for unconstitutionality if it ever reaches the finish line", Mirabelli said, adding that it "lends itself to the same criticisms of illegitimacy that concerned the obligation to pass on only the father's surname to children".

Photo credit: Vincenzo Izzo / Shutterstock.com.