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This article is about the character representing the northern portion of Italy. For the character representing the southern portion of Italy, or Romano, see South Italy.
Italy Veneziano (イタリア・ヴェネチアーノ Itaria Venechiāno) is a main character in the series Hetalia, and who the series is named after. Though he is often referred to just as Italy (イタリア Itaria) by other characters and by Himaruya, he is specifically the representation of the northern part of Italy.
In 2008, Himaruya gave human names to some of the characters and he received the name Feliciano Vargas (フェリチアーノ・ヴァルガス Ferichiāno Varugasu).
He has short brown hair and brown eyes, with a curl on the left side of his head, which acts as his erogenous zone when stroked or pulled. He is 172 cm tall, despairing at the 8 cm difference between him and Germany, as seen in episode 11. He wears a blue WWII military uniform, a black shirt and tie, and black boots. In earlier strips, his hair was shown smoother, and his curl was drawn smaller, a change which was noted in a gag illustration. Italy's eyes were depicted as gray in the earliest artwork of him, but quickly changed to brown.
In his first appearance in both versions of the manga, and the first two episodes of the anime, he wore a tan uniform that looked almost similar to his brother's, aside from being drawn as a jumpsuit in the manga (though it was shown as a two-piece suit in the anime).
As a child, he wore dresses, and was often mistaken for a girl by Holy Roman Empire, Austria, and numerous others. When not in uniform, he can often be seen dressed in a white sailor suit-style top with blue collar, necktie, and sleeve bands, and blue shorts.
Personality and Interests
Italy is a cheerful, energetic man, who went from being the kin of Ancient Rome, to an irresponsible crybaby. He loves pasta, pizza, gelato, and cheese. Although he relies on Germany a lot, Italy doesn't really listen to what he says and instead daydreams or wanders off. His hobbies include cooking, siestas, painting, singing and also flirts with any cute girl he sees.
In the webcomic and the first drama CD, it is noted that he frequently gets stomach pains due to overindulging on gelato. Italy is shown to have a compulsion of stripping off all of his clothes for his daily 3PM "siestas", and usually forgets to put his pants back on after he wakes back up (causing Germany to have to lend him a pair of his own). His public nudity has become notorious enough to where Switzerland will fire upon him if he catches him streaking throughout his homeland.
He also has the verbal tic of making a "Ve" sound (really said by Italians, above all in Emilia-Romagna, whereas you could hear a "Be" in other Italian regions, which is an abbreviation of "bene", "good", and it has the same function of the English interjection "well" at the beginning of a sentence), though in the anime adaptation, he makes other onomatopoeic sounds as well, a more notable one being a chant of "Herahera" (a Japanese onomatopoeia which means "acting foolishly" or "frivolous") .
Though he was relatively weak and timid as a child, he was able to take on Turkey single-handedly at one point.
Relationships
Ancient Rome: The heir apparent to Rome's fortune and the grandson most often seen with Rome, Italy is shown to heavily care for and admire his grandfather. During his youth, Italy appeared to learn his artistic talent from Rome and was deeply sadden by his passing. Due to what happened to his grandfather, Italy refused to become a new Roman Empire when Holy Roman Empire offered him the chance to do so.
Romano: Italy's older brother and family member he is most often seen with. Despite Romano's harsh behavior, Italy greatly cares about his brother and tries to help him get along with others. While they knew of each other during their youth, they did not meet face to face for several years and did not get along for quite a while as Romano was incredibly angry and jealous of the attention and inheritance Italy got from their grandfather. However, they were later able to work things out and renew their sibling relationship although Italy often has to fend off Romano's attempts to keep him away from Germany and Japan.
Spain: Italy's oldest brother. In contrast to Romano's treatment toward him, Italy receives great love and support from Spain. Although they are not often shown together, Italy loves spending time with Spain and eating the flavorful food he provides. The two get along very well with one another and Italy expresses concern for Spain when he appears to be going through hardships.
France: When he was still young, Italy grew up with a teenage France. The two got along well until Italy was taken to spend time with Ancient Rome. When he returned, France only wanted to gain control of him. They are still on rather good terms, as Italy still refers to France as Big Brother France and has visited him a number of times. France is also unwilling to harm Italy despite being enemies.
England: Although the two appear to get along well when in a group, Italy is incredibly scared of Britian because of his "tasteless" food. He is often shown running away from Britian at great speed because he wants to avoid being captured by him and being made to eat his cooking.
Germany: Italy appears to see Germany as his closet friend and ally. He constantly calls on Germany when he is in a "difficult" situation or battle. Because of how much Germany has helped him, Italy often tries to help him relax but his methods nearly always seem to backfire and cause Germany to become angry. Even knowing how angry Germany can get, Italy views him as a great person he can count on and learn from.
Japan: Another of Italy's closest friends. Italy often shows Japan friendly attention despite Japan not being comfortable with physical contact. Italy has attempted to tone down this trait but often forgets and apologizes for it afterwards. Italy has tried to help Japan express his feelings more but has been faced with immense difficulty in this and has only been able to get him mad.
Austria: Austria took control over a younger Italy after Ancient Rome fell and helped raise him with the assistance of Hungary in Holy Roman Empire's house. In the strip In Vienna, it is revealed that Austria had originally thought Italy to be a girl along with most others; when he and Hungary learn of Italy's voice maturing, he states that he expected something like this to happen and buys Italy boy's clothing from then on.
Holy Roman Empire: As a child, Holy Roman Empire would frequently chase Italy about, demanding that he should become part of the Holy Roman Empire. Italy was very frightened of Holy Rome because of his intense looks and atmosphere but was still willing to help him improve his art when asked. Over the time they spent together, Italy grew closer to Holy Rome to the point that he became greatly saddened by the news of his departure to war.
Hungary: Hungary helped raise Italy when they were both under Austria's rule and is considered to be an older sister figure to him. She is also one of the few who knew of Italy's true gender.
Poland: Italy and Poland are shown to be good friends in a few of the "Extra Stories" and Comic Diary strips and have known each other since they were small children due to their long history of good relations. The two countries even reference each other in their national anthems, and Poland once asked Lithuania what he thought of Italy. It was Poland who gave Italy the idea to make an ejecting seat in Germany's Kubelwagon, as he had previously designed an airplane with one (which backfired on him).
Anime
North Italy in the anime. He is on the right in this image.
Italy appears in Episode 01, in the anime, towards the end of the meeting. He offers to speak, but when he is called upon, he lets out a cry of "PASTA~!" instead of presenting data.
He is formally introduced in Episode 02, after Germany finds him hiding in the tomato crate, and is taken captive, but eventually kicked out and sent back home after he annoys the other man with a stereotype-filled song about Germans. Italy later returns to work for Germany after becoming poor, and eventually becomes his ally in the lead-up to WWII.
In the anime adaptation, Italy's hair is changed to auburn, while his tie is colored blue. His eyes were also changed to amber, a more "golden" shade than what they appear as in manga illustrations.
Name
The exact inspiration behind his human name was not stated by Hidekaz Himaruya, though it is to be noted that Vargas is a Spanish surname and not Italian (though it has Latin roots, like both languages) but it is believed that Vargas may have been derived from the artist Alberto Vargas, who was famous for his WWII "Vargas Girls" pin-up art. Likewise, Feliciano (which comes from "felice", happy one) is an uncommon given name in Italy, and is more common as a surname. It is possible that it might have been inspired by the Italian calligrapher Felice Feliciano.
The birthdate given in his profile, March 17th, corresponds with the date of the formation of the "Kingdom Of Italy" (Regno d'Italia) in 1861. As Italy is shown in the strips to have existed for centuries before, it is likely that the brothers use the date of the Italian Unification to celebrate their birthdays with, as a unified Italy. The formation date of the Italian Republic (Repubblica Italiana) is actually June 2nd. South Italy is confirmed to be the elder of the two; despite this, some fans continue to mistake them for twins due to having similar hairstyles.
Though Italy was represented with the flag for the Kingdom Of Italy in the original webcomic, the published manga and later media use the modern Italian flag.
His full nation name, Italy Veneziano (or just "Veneziano") is derived from Venezia, the Italian name for Venice, a city in Northern Italy. In the strips, he is simply referred to by the others as Italy, with his brother only referring to him as Veneziano. The name North Italy is also used to differentiate him from his brother.In Italian, the word Veneziano has the meaning of "venetian", "native of Venice", but, unlike his brother's second forename, it is no existent male first name. Veneziano can also be seen as a sort of pun for the similar-sounding Japanese phrase "Venezia no", which would mean "of Venice".
Though his name is derived after Venice, he only seems to represent the Republic itself in the strip where he fights the Ottoman troops. In footnotes to strips such as The War of Austrian Succession, it is shown that he has also been used to represent other northern areas of Italy such as Milan and Piedmont-Sardinia, before the unification of Italy.
In the strip Let's Assist The French Economy!, his right nipple is revealed to represent Corsica and winds up claimed by France. His right pectoral area is also said to represent both Savoy and Nice.
In Contrary To The Italian Image, it is revealed in a footnote that Italy suffers from the medical condition phimosis (which makes it difficult for the foreskin of the penis to be retracted), due to Italy ranking #2 in frequent cases of it.
In the webcomic strip Italy's Big Brother, Germany reveals that Italy happens to share Germanic blood with him (presumably due to the German conquests of Italy after the fall of the Roman Empire). This noticeably angers South Italy, who was later said to be of Arabic blood by Himaruya.
An early design of Italy.
In a note, Himaruya stated that Italy was not entirely weak, but due to him being cowardly and scared, he does not use his strength. However, as Chibitalia, he was shown at one point to be strong enough to defeat Ottoman forces that were invading the Adriatic Sea (referencing how Italian naval troops were thought to be stronger than the ones on land). In another illustration, the female version of Italy is shown to display an incredible bout of strength when angered, much to the surprise of her male counterpart.
In the special booklet included with the third volume of the published manga, it was revealed that Italy's personality was originally intended to be modeled after that of Noto Kanazawa (an unlucky, often-bullied character from a previous Kitayume comic), and that his curl was a last-minute addition to the design to make him look cuter. As the manga progressed though, the character of Italy became more carefree and absent-minded.
Notes
↑Opposed to a common fandom belief that Veneziano is the "main" representative of Italy, Romano is as equally a representation of "Italy" as he is. They represent their respective halves, Veneziano is not "more important" or more of Italy than Romano is.
↑It is unknown whether the Italian regions have personifications, though it is likely due to the fact that Germany's states, Japan's prefectures, and others have personifications. With this being the case, it would be plausible that Veneziano would be the representative of Veneto, since he represented Venice before Italy was unified.
↑"Veneziano" derives from Venice, and is the Italian word for Venetian. Additionally, are many references to Venice in his characterization and historical topics discussed by Himaruya. For example, in the comic Turkey&! from Hetalia: Axis PowersVolume 4 (English), it is revealed that he beat up Turkey when Turkey was trying to expand, which is probably a reference to the Ottoman-Venetian Wars. The existence of Genoa also indicates that the various pre-unification Italian states had their own personifications, therefore it is very likely that Veneziano was not just simply "Northern Italy" when he was younger, but rather specifically represented Venice.
↑In the Chibitalia comic (Japanese; English) it is shown that he was born at some point before the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire in CE 476.
↑He referred to Holy Rome as his first love, and he has flirted with many, many women.
↑The Anniversary of the Unification of Italy, celebrating the day in 1861 when the Kingdom of Italy was officially proclaimed. Click here for more information.
↑Potentially a reference to Hello Kitty, who is described as being "5 apples tall".
↑Though Italy has no official national flower, daisies are sometimes cited because they were allegegly a favorite flower of Queen Margherita, the first queen of the newly united Italy (and Margherita is also the Italian word for Daisy). However, other flowers are more commonly cited as Italy's national flower than daisies. Click here, here, and here for more information.
↑Three popular Italian desserts. Gelato is the Italian word for all types of ice cream, though in English it is used to refer to a specific type of Italian artisanal ice cream. Tiramisù is made of ladyfinger pastries dipped in coffee and layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone, and flavored with cocoa. Torrone is a nougat confection typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, shaped into into a rectangular tablet or a round cake. Click here, here, and here for more information.
↑Two of the most iconic Italian dishes, and the national dishes of Italy. Pasta is usually made from unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and then formed into various shapes. Pizza usually consists of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with various ingredients, such as tomato, cheese, and meats. Click here and here for more information.
References
↑Himaruya, Hidekaz. May 2007. "Old Blog 2007/05". Japanese. English.
↑Himaruya, Hidekaz. October 2006. "Old Blog 2006/10". Japanese. English.
