FOREIGNERS (IN ITALY). - Foreigners are admitted to enjoy in Italy the civil rights attributed to citizens on condition of reciprocity; the principle is to be considered valid (save for special provisions) also for juridical persons.
While they are in the State, they are subject as temporary subjects to the penal laws, and to the laws of police and public security in general; they may be criminally liable, in certain cases, even for offenses committed abroad; they may be expelled (with free choice of destination) or extradited (with delivery to the authority of another State); extradition for political offenses is however excluded. They may enjoy the "right of asylum" in the territory of the Republic, if in their own country the exercise of the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution is denied to them (Constitution, art. 10).
By special convention diplomatic protection, by its nature limited to citizens, may extend to persons belonging to another State in the territories of third States. In financial matters, specific rules are often issued for individual taxes on the property of foreigners in Italy. Former citizens retain (in addition to the obligation, in certain cases, of military service) the duty of loyalty, with the related consequences for penal purposes.
Particular guarantees, of an objective and subjective scope not always undisputed, belong to members of diplomatic missions, by virtue of international rules, customary and conventional, as well as, recently, to members of certain offices of international entities or bodies. Foreigners invested with Catholic ecclesiastical offices in Rome enjoy the same personal guarantees as citizens (Lateran Treaty, art. 19).