Apellido del padre y principio de igualdad entre hombre y mujer

The article analyses two important decisions of the Italian Constitutional Court that demonstrate the fundamental importance of the constitutionalisation of civil law. In Italian law, children only take their father’s surname. The Constitutional Tribunal, first in 2016 and then in 2021 and 2022, declared these two rules to be contrary to constitutional and conventional principles and values, because they hinder the affirmation of equality between men and women. The Constitutional Tribunal, faced with the inertia of the Italian legislature, says that the rules are unconstitutional insofar as they require the acquisition of the paternal surname instead of the surname of both parents