Le scorciatoie del diritto internazionale. Il divorzio nell’Italia senza il divorzio

This essay addresses the issue of divorce in Italy prior to the 1970 law, focusing specifically on the remedies offered by international law. Since the postunification period, with the indissoluble civil marriage, issues of conflict between Italian law and that of the foreign spouse emerged. A wide range of cases emerged after the Second World War, with famous cases of Italians seeking to regain their single status and remarry through a divorce obtained in another country. The injustice of the Italian citizen’s status, unable to remarry while the foreign spouse had already obtained a divorce in their own country and remarried, would become one of the underlying arguments in the political battle for the introduction of divorce. The indissolubility of marriage, in short, was a very rigid principle that could, however, be easily circumvented by a simple change of nationality.