Misconception: He was an ungrateful child.

In reality, Romano
didn’t realize how much Spain had sacrificed for him until well into his
adulthood. In that sense, he can be even more oblivious than Spain at times.

Ex: Spain spent money
on improving Romano’s wardrobe, despite wearing rags himself.

Misconception: He
hates Spain.

Spain and Romano share
a very close relationship. What happens is that Romano often gets irritated with
Spain because they tend to switch from completely understanding one other to
not understanding each other at all.

Remember that when he
moved to America for work, Spain was the first person Romano called. He was in
a scary and unfamiliar environment and was all on his own. The fact that he
calls Spain is most telling of the less expressive but nonetheless strong bond they
share together.

Misconception: Romano’s
lazy

Yes, but not all the time. Romano’s a very competent worker when he puts his mind to it.

The truth is that there’s an evident tension between Romano and Veneziano
as a result of their rushed and sudden unification. They were separated for
centuries with minimal contact, and as such, have had a difficult time
reconciling.

Romano grudgingly moves
to America to sustain himself, as he didn’t want to rely on
Veneziano.

While he does complain
frequently, he’s still an exceptionally hard worker. Here, he’s even shown to
be above paying for shoes. Arguably, he’s the harder worker out of the two brothers. I’ll
get back to this in a moment.

There’s also an
interesting conflict regarding how the two Italy brothers share their workload. Romano wants Veneziano to work in order for him to work too while Veneziano wants Romano to “work properly.”

Likewise, there’s the
problem of North Italy infantilizing Romano and his capacity to work and be productive. He has a tendency to alleviate Romano’s workload, much to the latter’s annoyance.

Misconception: He
hates North Italy.

Not quite – he detests
him “a bit.”

The two don’t share
the greatest relationship. This likely stems from the fact that Romano suffers
from an inferiority complex in comparison to his brother, who was spoiled and
tended to more by their grandfather. Combine that with a rushed unification,
and there’s inevitably going to be some tension between them.

What you’ll see is
that Romano will insult Veneziano face-to-face– admittedly, quite spitefully and
rudely– only to discreetly look after his well-being behind his back.

Misconception: He’s
got an emotionally-strong backbone

Romano’s an even
bigger crybaby than Veneziano. He’s extremely sensitive.

Ex: He’s insecure
about his height.

Hopefully this sheds more light on Romano’s character. He’s not the stiff, rude, and unmotivated jerk that I often see him portrayed as in fanon.

While he can act like this, this isn’t how he always is. There’s a deeply emotional, anxious, caring, motivated, and passionate side of him that also needs to be recognized.