De Niro's great-grandparents emigrated from Italy

Italy's culture ministry plans to make De Niro an Italian citizen during the Venice Film Festival in September.

But the Order Sons of Italy in America asked Italy's government to reconsider.

It said: "[We] hold him and his movies responsible for considerably damaging the collective reputations of both Italians and Italian Americans."

'Unbalanced portrayal'

The Washington-based group said that since starring in The Godfather II in 1974, De Niro has "made a career of playing gangsters of Italian descent".

This has given a "distorted and unbalanced portrayal of people of Italian heritage", the group said.

It added: "He has done nothing to promote Italian culture in the United States."

De Niro was born in New York after his great-grandparents emigrated to the US from Ferrazzano, in Italy's central Molise region, at the end of the 19th Century.

From what we have seen to date... this movie will perpetuate the image of Italian Americans as Mafia gangsters The Order Sons of Italy in America, objecting to Shark Tale

He will be at the Venice Film Festival to promote Shark Tale, an animated film produced by DreamWorks about a shark mob boss and featuring characters with Italian names.

The Order Sons of Italy in America (Osia), which has more than 600,000 members, objected to the animated shark character voiced by De Niro in the new film.

"From our conversations with DreamWorks and from what we have seen to date from the studio's own website, promotional material and trailer, this movie will perpetuate the image of Italian Americans as Mafia gangsters," Osia said.

"We are especially concerned since this movie is directed at children who are particularly susceptible to absorbing negative stereotyping."

Italy's culture ministry and DreamWorks were unavailable for comment on Friday.