A big family (symbolic image).Image: Digital Vision
May 12, 2026, 9:21 p.mMay 12, 2026, 9:21 p.m
In Italy, for the first time, a child has been legally recognized as the son of three parents – a mother and two fathers. The appeal court in the southern Italian city of Bari decided this with a judgment that has now become legally binding.
Accordingly, the child’s German birth certificate will also be recognized in Italy. The boy is therefore legally considered the child of his mother and two fathers who are raising him together.
According to Italian media reports, the child was born in Germany without surrogacy. The mother is therefore a friend of the homosexual couple. The child was conceived naturally and initially recognized by the mother and the biological father.
The biological father’s partner later also applied for legal recognition as a father. A German court granted this because adoption in such cases is possible under German law.
The family then requested that the recognition be registered in Italy as well, as one of the two fathers is listed in the register of Italians living abroad in the southern Italian region of Apulia. A community in Apulia initially rejected this.
The appeal court in Bari finally ordered the German document to be registered in Italy, citing, among other things, the decision of the German judiciary.
Until 2016, Italy was the last country in Western Europe where same-sex partnerships were not legally recognized. In 2016, civil partnerships were legalized, but the right to adopt homosexuals was excluded from the law due to pressure from Catholic parties and organizations. In the past, Italian courts had repeatedly allowed adoptions of children of life partners. (sda/apa)