Constitutional Rights and Duties of Citizens

"Immigration is no longer considered a problem of law and order, but ''a structural phenomenon, for which a response is necessary, with a description of the rights and duties of foreigners,'' whose ''cultural and economic contribution to our country'' must be recognised"
- Tom Benettollo, the president of Solidarity, an immigrant advocacy group

Articles of the constitution pertaining to the rights of an Italian citizen:

(Adopted on 22 December 1947, Effective Since 1 January 1948)

Article 2 [Human Rights]
The Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable rights of man, both as an individual and as a member of the social groups in which one's personality finds expression, and it requires the performance of imperative political, economic, and social duties.

Article 3 [Equality]
(1) All citizens possess an equal social status and are equal before the law, without distinction as to sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, and personal or social conditions.
(2) It is the duty of the Republic to remove all economic and social obstacles which, by limiting the freedom and equality of citizens, prevent the full development of the individual and the participation of all workers in the political, economic, and social organization of the country.

Article 4 [Work]
(1) The Republic recognizes the right of all citizens to work and promotes such conditions as will make this right effective.
(2) According to capability and choice every citizen has the duty to undertake an activity or a function that will contribute to the material and moral progress of society.

Article 10 [International Law]
(1) Italy's legal system shall conform with the generally recognized principles of international law.
(2) The legal status of foreigners shall be regulated by law in conformity with international rules and treaties. .
(3) Foreigners to whom the actual exercise of the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution is denied in their own country, shall be entitled to the right of asylum within the territory of the Republic, under conditions laid down by law.
(4) The extradition of a foreigner for political offenses shall not be permitted.

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Part I Rights and Duties of Citizens; Title I Civil Rights

Article 13 [Personal Freedom]
(1) Personal freedom shall be inviolable.
(2) No one shall be detained, inspected, or searched nor otherwise restricted on one's personal liberty save by order of the judiciary for which the reason must be stated, and then only in such cases and in the manner as the law provides for.
(3) In exceptional cases of necessity and urgency, strictly defined by law, the police authorities may take provisional measures, which must be reported within 48 hours to the judiciary and which, if the latter do not ratify them within the next 48 hours, are considered as revoked and remain without effect.
(4) All acts of physical and moral violence on persons subjected to any restriction of freedom shall be punished.
(5) The law shall establish the maximum length of preventive detention.

Article 14 [Personal Domicile]
(1) Personal domicile shall be inviolable.
(2) No one's domicile shall be inspected, searched, or seized save in cases and in the manner laid down by law in conformity with guarantees prescribed for safeguarding personal freedom.
(3) Special laws shall regulate verifications and inspections for reasons of public health and safety, or for economic and fiscal purposes.

Article 15 [Freedom of Correspondence]
(1) The liberty and secrecy of correspondence and of every form of communication shall be inviolable.
(2) Limitations upon them may only be imposed by decision of the judiciary, for which the reason must be stated, in accordance with the guarantees laid down by law.

Article 16 [Freedom of Movement]
(1) Every citizen shall have the right to travel and reside freely in any part of the national territory, save for such limitations as laid down by a law of general application for reasons of health or security. No restriction shall be imposed for political reasons.
(2) Every citizen shall be free to leave the territory of the Republic and re-enter it, save for such obligations as are laid down by law.

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Article 17 [Right of Assembly]
(1) Citizens shall have the right to assemble peaceably and unarmed.
(2) For meetings, including those held in places to which the public has free access, no previous notice shall be required.
(3) For meetings held in public places previous notice must be given to the authorities, who may forbid them only for proven reasons of security or public safety.

Article 18 [Freedom of Association]
(1) Citizens shall have the right to form associations freely without authorization for aims not forbidden to individuals by the criminal law.
(2) Secret associations, and those which pursue political aims, even indirectly, by means of organizations of a military character, shall be forbidden.

Article 19 [Freedom of Religion]
All shall be entitled to profess their religious beliefs freely in any form, individual or in association, to promote them, and to celebrate their rites in public or in private, provided that they are not offensive to public morality.

Article 20 [Religious Associations]
The religious character and the religious or confessional aims of an association or institution shall not justify special legal limitations or special fiscal burdens for its establishment, legal capacity, or any of its activities.

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Article 21 [Freedom of Communication]
(1) All shall have the right to express their thoughts freely by speech, in writing, and by all other means of communication.
(2) The press shall not be subjected to any authorization or censorship.
(3) Seizure shall be permitted only by order of the judiciary, for which the reason must be stated, in the case of offences for which the law governing the press expressly provides, or in the case of violation of such provisions as the said law may prescribe for identifying the persons in charge.
(4) In such cases, under conditions of absolute urgency and when the immediate intervention of the judiciary is not possible, periodical publications may be seized by officers of the judicial police, who shall report immediately to the judiciary and in any case not beyond 24 hours. If the judiciary does not validate the measure within the next 24 hours, the seizure shall be considered as revoked and shall remain without effect.
(5) The law may order, by means of general provisions, that the financial sources of periodical publications be disclosed.
(6) Printed publications, performances, and all other exhibits offensive to public morality shall be forbidden. The law shall lay down proper provisions for preventing and repressing all violations.

Article 22 [Citizenship and Name]
No one shall be deprived of legal capacity, citizenship, or name for political reasons.

Article 23 [Personal Services]
No personal service or payment shall be forced on anyone, except as provided for by law.

Article 24 [Right to be Heard in Court]
(1) All may bring a case before a court of law in order to protect their rights under civil and administrative law.
(2) Defence shall be an inviolable right at every stage and instance of legal proceedings.
(3) The poor shall be entitled, through special provisions, to proper means for action or defence before all courts.
(4) The law lays down the conditions and means for obtaining reparation for judicial errors.

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Article 25 [Defendant's Rights]
(1) No one's case shall be removed from the court that must hear it, as pre-ordained by law.
(2) No one shall be punished save on the basis of a law which has entered into force before the offence has been committed.
(3) No one shall be subjected to security measures save in such cases as are laid down by law.

Article 26 [Extradition]
(1) The extradition of a citizen may be permitted only in such cases as are expressly provided for in international conventions.
(2) In no instance shall it be permitted for political offences.

Article 27 [Rights of the Accused]
(1) Criminal responsibility is personal.
(2) The defendant shall not be considered guilty until final sentence has been passed upon him.
(3) Punishments may not consist of measures contrary to a sense of humanity and shall aim at re-educating the convicted.
(4) The death penalty shall not be admitted save in cases specified by military laws in time of war.

Article 28 [Responsibility of Public Officials]
Officials and employees of the State and other public bodies shall be held directly responsible, under criminal, civil, and administrative laws, for acts committed in violation of rights. In such cases, civil responsibility extends to the State and to other public bodies.

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Title IV Political Rights

Article 48 [Voting Rights]
(1) All citizens, men or women, who have attained their majority shall be entitled to vote.
(2) Votes shall be personal and equal, free and secret. To vote shall be a civic duty.
(3) The right to vote shall not be limited save on account of civil incapacity, as a consequence of an irrevocable criminal sentence, or in cases of moral unworthiness established by law.

Article 49 [Political Parties]
All citizens shall have the right to associate freely in political parties in order to contribute by democratic means to the determination of national policy.

Article 50 [Petitions]
All citizens shall have the right to petition the Chambers demanding legislative measures or setting forth general needs.

Article 51 [Public Offices]
(1) All citizens of either sex shall be eligible for public office and for elective positions on conditions of equality, according to the rules established by law.
(2) The law may grant Italians who do not belong to the Republic the same opportunities as citizens in relation to their right to be selected for public positions and elective offices.
(3) Any person elected to a public office shall be entitled to the time necessary for the fulfillment of such duties while keeping his job.

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Article 52 [Military Service]
(1) The defence of the Country is the sacred duty of every citizen.
(2) Military service shall be compulsory, within the limits and in the ways laid down by law. The fulfillment of military duties shall not prejudice a citizen's position as an employee, nor the exercise of his political rights.
(3) The rules regulating the armed forces shall conform to the democratic spirit of the Republic.

Article 53 [Taxation]
(1) All shall contribute to public expenditure in proportion to their resources.
(2) The taxation system shall conform to the principle of progressivity.

Article 54 [Loyalty to the Constitution]
(1) All citizens shall have the duty to be loyal to the Republic and to comply with the Constitution and the laws.
(2) Citizens to whom public functions are entrusted shall perform them with discipline and honour, and take an oath where it is required by law.

For full text of the constitution  click here