Summary
Representing the southern half of the nation known as the Repubblica Italiana, with Rome as its capital and Italian as its language, Lovino Vargas is the older brother of North Italy. His human birthday falls on March 17th, the same date as the nation's national holiday, and his national flower is the daisy. While his official age is listed as twenty-three with an appearance matching that of a young adult, his height remains unknown. Better known by the nickname Romano, he features dark brown hair, which creator Hidekaz Himaruya attributes to Arabic ancestry and a somewhat dark personality. In the anime and recent official art, he has brown eyes and fair skin, whereas earlier depictions showed green eyes and an olive complexion. Like his sibling, he possesses a curly ahoge on the right side of his head, contrasting with Italy's left-sided one. Although rumors suggested they were twins, Himaruya confirmed Romano is a few years older than Italy. They knew of each other in childhood but did not meet until after the death of their grandfather, Grandpa Rome. Separation occurred when Austria took Italy and Spain took Romano, and they were only reunited during the unification of Italy. Despite this, their relationship remained strained, with Italy adoring his brother while Romano typically ignored him. This behavior stemmed from jealousy, as Spain favored Italy, who inherited their grandfather’s artistic talent and resembled him more than Romano did. Beneath his aloofness, Romano cares for Italy and desires more admiration from him. Romano spent most of his childhood under the control of Spain, who ruled South Italy while Austria controlled the North. Working as a maid in Spain’s household, Romano was lazy, often sleeping or refusing to work, and was clumsy when he did attempt chores. Raised by Spain, he adopted similar cultural traits, including religion, customs, and a love for tomatoes. He treated Spain coldly, acting as if he hated him, though he secretly cared for his guardian and felt jealous when Spain showed affection to others. Their bond remains close to this day. Romano harbors intense hatred for Germany, having failed repeatedly in attempts to get revenge for Germany’s closeness to Italy and for forcing him to eat German food. This animosity may extend to all Germans, stemming from his childhood, and he views them as uncivilized country bumpkins with bad physiology. He also appears to dislike France. His personality is described as dark and his worldview as bleak and biased, possibly due to influence from his mafia. Though he appears tougher than Italy, he is equally cowardly and weak. He loves pasta and tomatoes but maintains a strict no-foreign-food policy, particularly against potatoes and cheese. He acts friendly toward women but rude toward men. His hobbies include flirting, taking siestas, cooking, and farming. Despite being clumsy, he is a skilled pickpocket. He frequently uses vulgar language, such as "dammit" and "bastard," and makes a "chigi" sound when agitated, similar to Italy’s "veh." His human name, Lovino, means wine in Italian, while his surname, Vargas, is Spanish rather than Italian.
