North Italy

Seiyuu / Dub

Maeda, Rena· Japanese

Namikawa, Daisuke· Japanese

Haberkorn, Todd· English

Summary

Feliciano Vargas, representing the Italian Republic with its capital in Rome, is a nation born on March 17th, the day of its unification, and is symbolized by the daisy. Appearing as a twenty-year-old human, he stands at 172cm and is widely recognized simply as North Italy or Italy, though he is frequently called Veneziano because he embodies the northern region of the country. He features short reddish-brown hair with a distinctive curly ahoge on the left side of his head and brown eyes, although earlier illustrations depicted his hair as medium brown and his eyes as grey. As the beloved grandson of the once-mighty Roman Empire, he is often viewed as a failure in living up to his ancestor's legacy and is characterized as a complete crybaby. During his childhood, he spent time with his grandfather until his passing, after which he was taken in by Austria alongside Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire. Austria and the others were unaware of his gender due to his frequent dress-wearing and only discovered the truth after he underwent a significant growth spurt and his voice deepened. His official blood-related sibling is South Italy, commonly known as Romano, who is older but not a twin. They were not raised together, and while Italy inherited their grandfather’s traits and good looks, they have a strained relationship. Italy adores his brother, but Romano is reluctant to acknowledge the connection, though he does care for Italy, often showing jealousy when Italy spends time with Germany. Italy addresses him as Romano, while Romano calls him Veneziano to avoid confusion. Italy also regards France and Spain as older brothers, referring to them as France-oniichan and Spain-niichan. Spain, who once controlled Romano, harbored a dream for Italy to live with him, a wish that persists to this day. Despite having fought against Italy in WWII, France maintains a pleasant relationship with him, often offering inappropriate advice. Following WWI, when Italy was a prisoner of war, he eventually allied with Germany. When Japan joined them years later, they formed the Axis Powers. Italy relies heavily on Germany for daily tasks, from tying shoes to handling grenades, often ignoring Germany’s instructions in favor of daydreaming. Despite Germany’s frustration, they share a close bond as best friends. As the official main protagonist of the series, Italy interacts with most of the cast and is generally friendly. He is absent-minded, irresponsible, and easily offended, yet remains cheery, kind, and big-hearted. He is overly affectionate, frequently hugging and kissing people upon greeting. His hobbies include art, drawing, singing, taking siestas, flirting, remodeling German cars, and cooking, with a particular love for pasta, pizza, gelato, fruit, and cheese. He often hums obnoxiously, skips around, and gestures wildly while speaking. A recurring quirk is his tendency to run around nude after naps, which once caused Switzerland to open fire on him. Although Romano denies it, Italy is said to possess Germanic blood. A running joke in the series is that Italy is useless, lazy, and weak, a theme even reflected in the series title. However, he once single-handedly defeated Turkey as a child, proving he is not entirely helpless. According to creator Hidekaz Himaruya, Italy avoids using his strength because he is too cowardly. The ahoge on his head was added last-minute to enhance his cuteness, a feature shared by other Italians and Romano. Spain gave him the nickname Ita-chan during his childhood, a name he still uses. He is sometimes called Hetalia, a portmanteau of the Japanese word for useless and Italia, a reference seen in the ending theme "Marukaite Chikyuu." Italy frequently utters the sound "veh" and randomly shouts "PASTA!" or "herahera," the latter meaning foolish in Japanese.