The announcement was made last week that Colin Firth now has Italian citizenship. Firth is not giving up his British citizenship, but he is now a dual citizen of the U.K. and Italy, where his wife, film producer Livia Giuggioli, was born. Firth says the reason he sought Italian citizenship is a combination of family matters and Brexit fallout.
But it wasn’t Firth who released a statement, but the Italian Interior Minister who made Firth’s Italian citizenship public.
“The very famous actor, who won an Oscar for the film The King’s Speech, is married to a citizen from our country and has often declared his love for our land.”
Colin Firth, an Italian citizen? Firth often plays the epitome of the Englishman in movies, and now he will be traveling under an Italian passport? People are expressing shock that the man who is known for playing Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and Uncle Jamie in Love Actually is now an Italian citizen (as well as a British citizen). Colin Firth is the go-to actor when it comes to the British, stiff upper lip stereotype, so it makes sense that some Britons would feel rejected when Firth would speak out about Brexit and decide to join his family as Italian citizens.
Mamma Mia! British star Colin Firth is now Italian https://t.co/XpBIcQ3KuY pic.twitter.com/rzE7xWTIF0
— The Local Italy (@TheLocalItaly) September 23, 2017
Colin Firth says he initially put in his application for Italian citizenship in response to the U.K. leaving the European Union but added that his family concerns sealed the deal. Firth and his Italian wife have two sons.
“A connection with Italy has existed for more than two decades now. I was married there and had two children born in Rome. My wife and I are both extremely proud of our own countries.”
Colin Firth explains that his wife Livia and their two children will also be applying for dual British citizenship so that the whole family will have the same passports.
“We never really thought much about our different passports. But now, with some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same. Livia is applying for a British passport. I will always be extremely British (you only have to look at or listen to me).”
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The uncertainty that Firth speaks of is Brexit, and he says he sees no upside to the U.K. exiting the E.U. He explains that other actors like Ralph Fiennes have successfully applied for citizenship in places like Serbia.
“Brexit does not have a single, positive aspect for me. Many colleagues, including Emma Thompson, are – like me – enthusiastic Europeans. And we still cannot believe it.”
Firth explains that England will always be his home. Firth and Giuggioli currently live in Chiswick with their two sons and own a house near the Italian town of Città della Pieve.
Are you surprised that Colin Firth is now an Italian citizen as well as a British citizen?
[Featured Image by Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images]