In both his and his brother’s character notes, it’s said
that if their curls are pulled, it will cause an involuntary physiological
(bodily) response. Italy Veneziano will say “Ve”, whereas Romano will make a
purring “chigi” sound.

We know that the different parts of a nation are reflected
in their human body. For example, America’s Nantucket or Austria’s Mariazell
ahoges. I say this because I believe that the physiological and verbal response
pulling the curl causes is in reference to a specific body of land, or rather a
part/ governmental organ of the nation.

Yes, “ve” is also an Italian verbal tick/ dialect, but what
you’ll see with Hima is that he likes to play around with words, give them double
(sometimes several) meanings, and make puns out of them. In Italy Veneziano’s
case, I believe the same logic applies.

In other words, ‘ve’ could be attributed to the dialect and the city of Venice, which is commonly
believed to be North Italy’s first title as a personification. Although, if it
is in reference to a dialect/verbal tick, North Italy doesn’t say it nearly as
much as China does with his “aru”, which makes me think of it more in terms of a
reference to a body of land, rather than speech.

Anyways, in Romano’s case, I think it’s a reference to the
Palazzo Chigi in Italy’s capital, Rome. It’s where the Prime Minister of Italy
resides. The point here is that we already know that Romano does his fair share
of work for his government.

If that’s the case, then this reference only reiterates his
purpose as a second personification for Italy. This, of course, is in addition
to him representing the cultural differences of those from the southern regions
of the nation.

Further, we know that Ancient Rome left behind a legacy.
Italy inherited his charm, artistic aptitude, and wealth. Meanwhile, it’s not
very clear what Romano inherited from Ancient Rome… not unless you do a bit
of digging. What I’m arguing is that Romano inherited the role of governance
from his grandfather.

That doesn’t mean to say that North Italy doesn’t do his
share of government work either, because he does, just not nearly as much as
Romano nor with the same amount of commitment.

So? What about them hints?

When visiting Italy from heaven, Ancient Rome remarks that
Rome (as his capital) acted as his heart. Well, what if Romano inherited that?
Italy Veneziano is likely a reference to Venice as stated above, and as such,
Romano is just as likely to be derived from Rome – where the governing happens.

If you take a closer look at Ancient Rome, he resembles both
Italy brothers depending on the emotions he’s experiencing.

It’s not just Italy Veneziano who looks like Ancient Rome. Some of Romano’s expressions makes him a near clone of his grandfather.

Hard to tell the difference, right? Overall, it would seem
that Romano inherited quite a bit from Ancient Rome, contrary to popular
belief.

Before, I’ve speculated that the reason Italy has his eyes
closed is that he doesn’t see the truth of the world. First, he was sheltered
by the protection his grandfather provided for him and didn’t realize how
brutal the world truly was.

Then, I argued that after the traumas of being conquered and
losing Holy Rome, Italy kept his eyes shut as a conscious decision. In other
words, he refused to see the truth around him.

Following said logic, this would explain why Italy rarely
opens his eyes in front of Germany. Perhaps this is him not wanting to
acknowledge his uncanny appearance to Holy Rome. He may even realize that
Germany is connected to Holy Rome in some way or another, but chooses to ignore
it, sparing himself from the painful reminder of his first true love.

However, that’s not what I want to talk about in this post.
What I do want to talk about is that the Italy we know and love is hinted at
hiding another side of himself…a scary one too.

In the Christmas 2011 event, Italy is requested to keep his
eyes open for a long period of time. Italy’s shocked response prompts Germany
to comment that it can’t be that difficult for him to do so.

What I find suspicious is that Italy conveniently falls
asleep in the following panel, almost as if he doesn’t want to open his eyes.
Given the context, it also wouldn’t make sense for him to fall asleep during Christmas,
as he’s known to love being around people and adores any kind of festivities.
This is completely out of character for him.

Even stranger is that when Italy does open his eyes, he
later remarks that it’s best if he keeps them closed. Okay…

So, what about this side of himself he’s hiding? Well,
there’s one strip that disturbs me every time I think about it, that being
“Mind-reading Binoculars.”

Here, Japan invents binoculars that reveal what
people are thinking. After pointing it at Italy, Japan doesn’t believe what he
sees and concludes that the binoculars are defective. On the contrary, I think
this was purposefully done and that they do in fact work properly.

Scary, right? And yet, it also makes sense for Italy to
possess such a dark side (rather than his excessively cheerful, albeit insecure
one) to him given how brutal his history has been. Once again, we return to
this motif of truth and hidden secrets. Hima’s definitely going somewhere with
this…but…

Would you believe it if I said he’s been planning this other
side of Italy right from the very start?

When Germany first meets Italy, Italy is hiding in an empty
tomato crate and pretends to be a fairy. Germany’s word choice is quite eerie
in this particular scene.

I’m sorry, but “show your true self” (?!). Why so
specific? That is, unless the word “true” has an alternate meaning in terms of
Italy hiding parts of himself.

If so, that’s quite possibly the most brilliant
foreshadowing I’ve ever seen.

I’ve also noticed that when Italy opens both
eyes, it functions as him reassuring someone and/or telling them the truth of
his intentions/ actions. Roughly speaking, it’s comparable to Pinnochio…
Pin-eye-chio… Nah, it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Back to the Christmas Event, this also might explain why
Germany immediately covers Italy’s face once he opens his eyes. How I see it is
that it symbolizes how Germany may indeed know about the truth of his past, but
decides to cover it up and ignore it as opposed to confronting it.

Anyways, every time Italy tells the truth, his eyes open.
So, is he living a lie then? I really do think Hima’s going somewhere with
this, and encourage all of you to look at any examples where Italy opens both eyes.

I’m still not too sure about this one, but since this is
also another thing that’s been heavily requested, I have no problem explaining
what little I do understand from it. That is, if there is even any thing to
make sense of…

We’ve seen that the nations can transport or travel across
borders in a short period of time. The first thing I’ve noticed about this
ability is that it requires some sort of connection. In the “We’re Shipwrecked”
strip, since China has villas – China towns – all over the world, he’s able to
use them as a method of transport, travelling as far as the island of
Seychelles.

In the Christmas 2011 Event, this idea of connection comes
up again as Russia proposes to Japan that they build a bridge in order to
connect their houses, making it easier to travel.

However, there are times when transporting is difficult for
the nations. In my opinion, I think distance is the key factor here. For
example, we see that Italy travels to Germany by crossing over through
Switzerland on foot.

In the 2010 Christmas Event, we also see Finland travelling
to Sweden’s and Germany’s houses without any difficulties. On the other hand,
when asked to interview Seychelles and Greece, Finland either mails or texts
them.

For Seychelles, Finland states that “her land is a bit far.”
You also likely have to factor in the obstacles of water (or mountain ranges,
deserts etc.) in travelling, as not all countries are connected by land, or if
they are, it’s not always flat and easy to travel across.

It seems that distance and connections between landmasses is
what allows and/or inhibits the nations to travel on foot, as opposed to more standard
means.

The answer to the title is no, by the way. To
elaborate on why I believe this is, it’s important to understand that the modern
definition of a nation-state is much different now than what it was centuries
ago. People often organized themselves in terms of city-states, kingdoms,
principalities, or small territories.

That said, during the Renaissance era, Italy
consisted mostly of small city-states. This would explain Italy’s full name,
Italy Veneziano, an obvious reference to the city of Venice. This fragmentation
was due to the larger foreign powers of Austria, Spain, France, and the Holy
Roman Empire coming in and taking land for themselves.

However, as I just said, Italy Veneziano is
repetitively referred to as North Italy, which simply includes Venice. He
doesn’t only represent Venice. I
don’t mean to say that North Italy wasn’t born
to represent Venice, though. That certainly seems to be the case. What I am
saying is that as the concept of a nation changed, so did Italy. He likely absorbed
the entire northern region. I mean, we’ve already seen this multiple times in
the series where nations adopt new lands and titles. Take the Teutonic Knights
and Prussia for example.

Now, this wouldn’t be a theory if I didn’t have any evidence, so here.

Then, at the end of the strip, North Italy mentions
that parts of his house were taken. We already know that a nation’s house, or
rather, an empire to be more applicable to the time period, consisted of other
nations under their rule. However, in Italy’s case, his house consisted of the
many different sovereign city-states of northern Italy.

So no, I wouldn’t worry about Italy Veneziano
disappearing anytime soon just because Venice is likely to sink in the coming
years. He’s got the whole rest of northern Italy to embody.

Further, and as I’ll get into with a much, much larger post, there is no dominant
Italy – between the two Italian brothers, I mean. The south and north are different
enough for them both to personify the land, and Hima makes sure to mention this
countless times.