South Italy

South Italy (南イタリア, Minami Itaria), often referred to as Romano (ロマーノ, Romāno), is a character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers and the older brother of North Italy. In 2008, Himaruya gave human names to some of the characters and he received the name Lovino Vargas (ロヴィーノ・ヴァルガス, Rovīno Varugasu).

Appearance
South Italy has dark brown hair and has more of an olive complexion than his younger brother in earlier artwork, but there is no visible skin tone difference in most later artwork. His eyes were originally green, but became colored hazel or dark brown in most of the later colored art.

Like his brother, he has a wild long curl that acts as his erogenous zone, though it rests on the right side of his head, as opposed to the left. In most artwork and merchandise, he is shown to wear a khaki uniform in a different style than Italy's (and more similar to Spain's), with 3/4-length sleeves. But in the published manga and anime, he instead wears a virtually identical uniform. In his very first appearance in the webcomic, South Italy's shirt and belt were colored white, but were later shaded in dark. The actual color of the uniform is unknown due to it only appearing in black-and-white art, though fanworks often depict it as being a lighter blue.

As a child, he did not usually wear a maid dress like his brother but simply the apron, as seen in early strips of 'Boss Spain's Control of Southern Italy. 'But in some strips like the ones in Comic Diary 9, he is depicted wearing a dress of an unknown color.

A chibi image by Himaruya, as well as a figurine, also show that South Italy has a casual sailor outfit like Italy, but with the blue accents replaced by green.

Personality and Interests
South Italy is friendly and kind to women, but is strict and less social towards men. In particular, he is openly rude to both Germany and France. Despite appearing to be tougher than his younger brother, he is just as cowardly and ineffectual, if not more. Though he is not very skilled with his hands, it is said that he is a good pickpocket. He is also has a habit of speaking in profanity, particularly the words "bastard" and "dammit".

As a child, he often slacked off and slept when it came to chores, though he was rather clumsy when he actually tried to do them. In Comic Diary 10 and blog illustrations by Himaruya, as well as in the first part of Boss Spain's Control Of Southern Italy, it is revealed that the younger South Italy had a bed-wetting problem and often had trouble finding the toilet due to the vast size of Spain's mansion. In Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 1, it is also revealed that he had the disease Choreia as a child, and that it played a part in his clumsiness. Spain attempted to heal him by making him dance the Tarantella; South Italy appeared to recover from the disease, whether due to those efforts or not.

When using grenades, he seemingly has no clue of the correct way to throw them (throwing the pin rather than the actual grenade, a habit shared by his brother). In the strip In Two Minutes, You Can Grasp The Exterior Of The European Economy, it is shown that he is often controlled and led around by his own mafia. It is partially due to the influence of the mafia that his view of the world is more biased and bleak than Italy's.

While Italy eats a variety of foods other than pasta, South Italy refuses to eat any foreign foods, especially if it happens to be either cheese or potatoes. He has the verbal tic of making a "Chigi" (or "Chigigi") sound when he is agitated or when his haircurl is pulled.

Germany
Main Article: Germany

Unlike his brother, South Italy hates Germany and can't stand to see him and Italy together. He refers to Germany as a "potato bastard" and "macho potato".

South Italy had attempted to get revenge on a few occasions, but failed each time:


 * Tried to charge at Germany, but slipped on a banana peel and skinned his arm (Italy's Big Brother, Webcomic)


 * Pulled the pin off a "Red Devil" grenade, but threw the pin instead of the actual grenade, which he held in his mouth (Italy's Big Brother).


 * Threatened to throw tomatoes at Germany and "rip every muscle" off of his body, but wound up frightened by France (Meet My Big Brother!, Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 1).


 * Attempted to embarrass Germany by holding up a fake mustache (to make him look like he was sporting one), but wound up making himself look like he wore mustache instead (Good Luck! Big Brother!, Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 1)

It is suggested that he might hate Germans in general, seeing that he thought one as a danger when he was a kid and got scolded by Spain because he believed the German would attack Spain. A line in Italy's Big Brother also reveals that his stereotype of Germans is that they're all "uncivilized country bumpkins with bad physiology". When Germany noted that Italy happened to have Germanic blood as well, it caused South Italy to go into a rage and attempt to charge at him (only for the above banana incident to occur).

Italy
Main Article: Italy

The two brothers grew up knowing of each other, but they never actually met face to face. Italy eventually went off to live with their grandfather for some time, while South Italy stayed behind. After Grandpa Rome had died and Italy came back, South Italy and the other boys became bullies to him. The two were separated again at the end of the Italian War, when Italy was claimed by the Holy Roman Empire and Austria, while South Italy was sent to live with Spain because he was too difficult to deal with.

In the present day, the two brothers don't get along very well; South Italy occasionally refuses to acknowledge his brother's existence, though Italy is more than eager to be around his older brother. As a child, South Italy often felt jealous and inferior to Italy, due to the younger brother inheriting their grandfather's talent for art, while he could barely draw. He also felt that his brother took after their grandfather in appearance more. Despite this though, he's shown to have at least a subconscious care for him, becoming upset when his brother implies he doesn't admire him, and sharing a bed with him. Usually when it's hinted that he cares about Italy though, something happens that angers him and he instantly reverts back.

Japan
Main Article: Japan

Though they have to met only briefly in an earlier "strip" (in which they didn't actually interact beyond introductions and Japan's pondering of the brothers' curls ), Himaruya has stated that they would both get along rather well and that Japan would refer to the other as "Romano-kun" (after initially "-san")

Spain
Main Article: Spain

Because Spain raised him, South Italy has assimilated his culture, customs, religion, and his love for tomatoes. While Spain often acts affectionately towards him, South Italy tends to treat him rather coldly because he believes that Spain just wants his grandfather's inheritance. Deep down, he does care about Spain, though he rarely shows it openly; he seems to become extremely jealous when Spain is with someone else. When Spain caught a cold, South Italy increases imports from Spain (despite having a cold himself) and overcomes his weakness to the mafia (even though he usually bends to their will.)

In his youth, South Italy would often jump on Spain or headbutt him in the stomach to wake him up. This caused Spain to have a nightmare where an adult South Italy jumped on him and "crushed his vital regions."

In The Anime
South Italy is first shown briefly in the Chibitalia segment of Episode 01 as a small child, and makes further non-speaking cameos in Episode 02 (where the brothers are bullied by the other nations) and Episode 04 (being stepped on by a victorious Austria). The adult South Italy finally appears in Episode 07, which adapts Meet My Big Brother! and '''Good Luck! Big Brother!' from Axis Powers Hetalia volume 1''.

His childhood is further detailed in Episodes 60-62, 67, 68 and Episode 75-77 which adapt Boss Spain's Control of Southern Italy. This shows the time from when Spain firsts aquires South Italy to where he begins fighting France and Turkey for him.

He is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa, who also voices Italy. Namikawa also initially voiced the child version of South Italy in the first episode, but the role was later recast for Hetalia: World Series, with Aki Kanada providing the voice (as she did for his brother).

In the anime adaptation (much like the later colored manga artwork), South Italy is given lighter skin, rather than being olive-skinned. Though he is depicted as wearing his pants over a short pair of boots in a character sketch for the manga, his anime turnaround instead shows him to have his pants tucked into a pair of tall boots (that look much like his brother's). His first military uniform is also colored khaki, with the shirt being maroon and the tie being navy.

Name
Though the exact inspiration behind his human name remains unknown, Lovino is not a given name in Italian, instead used as a surname; in Italian, it simply translates to "the wine". However, it may be a masculinized form of "Lovina" which comes from the name "Lavinia" which was the name of the legendary mother of the Roman people. Vargas is a common Spanish surname but in this case it's believed to have come from the artist Alberto Vargas. Alternatively, Rovino exists as an Italian word, and derives from a tense of the word "rovinare", which means to "collapse" or to "wreck", thus the name literally means "I ruin".

Trivia

 * Like his brother, South Italy's birthday falls on March 17th, which is the date that the "Kingdom Of Italy" was formed. He was also represented with the flag for the Kingdom in the original webcomic art, though the modern Italian one is now used for him. South Italy is confirmed to be the elder of the two; despite this, some fans continue to mistake them for twins.
 * His full nation name, Italy Romano, is derived from Rome, the capital of Italy. In the actual strips, he is simply Romano, though South Italy is also used to differentiate him from his younger brother. Historically however, he would represent either kingdom of Sicily and Naples (which later became "The Kingdom Of The Two Sicilies"), which were part of Southern Italy and wound up under the control of Spain. Romano is an existent Italian male first name, derived from the Latin title "romanus" (which originally meant "a citizen of the Roman Empire", but now simply "native of Rome"). In addition, Romano can be seen as a pun on the phrase "Roma no", meaning "of Rome".
 * South Italy is one of the Axis Powers during the second world war which would bring the total of Axis Powers in the story to four. This can be seen when he and North Italy were captured by England in episode 63.
 * According to Hidekaz Himaruya, South Italy's hair is colored darker than Italy's due to him having Arabic blood. Himaruya described him as having both "darker hair" and a "darker personality". But in a 2006 profile of Italy on Kitayume, South Italy briefly appeared in an illustration with black hair, as opposed to the dark brown hair Himaruya would settle on.
 * You can tell North Italy and South Italy apart hair wise when South Italy has dark hair and his curl is in the middle of his hair and North Italy's hair is light brown and his curl is on the side of his hair.