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.
Ellawritesficssometimes 