Marco - dagli Appennini alle Ande Maggiori

Marco - dagli Appennini alle Ande Maggiori (母 を た ず ね て 三 千里, Haha o tazunete sanzen ri) is an anime in 52 episodes produced by Nippon Animation, Fuji Tv and Taurus Film and inspired by the episode of the book Cuore (Edmondo De Amicis). In Japan it was broadcast in 1976.

## Plot

Marco Rossi is a Genoese boy whose mother, Anna, is forced to emigrate to Argentina for work while his father Pietro stays at home to manage the medical clinic for the poor that he finally managed to open with many sacrifices. Marco misses his mother and over time bears less and less the fact that his father and older brother Tonio make important decisions without first talking to him. Slowly the conflict between father and son increases, the man who still sees Marco as a child and does not understand that he is growing up, Marco who unconsciously despises his father for not having gone to Argentina instead of his mother.

A year after his departure, his mother's letters stop arriving and Marco, more and more desperate, would like his father to do something, but the man seems unable to make a decision about it. Slowly in the boy's mind the idea of ​​going to Argentina himself to ascertain his mother's conditions matures and therefore finds a job secretly to be able to pay for the trip. In the meantime he meets a family of puppeteers, made up of Pepe and his three daughters, Concetta, Giulietta and Violetta, who are thinking of emigrating to Argentina and Marco initially thinks of joining, but when he finally talks to his father about his project obtains a decisive denial from him, further accentuating the contrast between father and son. After a long time, a letter from the mother finally arrives saying that she has been sick for a few days and that she has not been able to write. Marco understands that his mother is hiding the truth: she is a strong woman and would never have mentioned an illness if it hadn't been a really serious thing. He then decides to clandestinely embark for South America but is soon discovered. The father then becomes convinced that only Marco can go to Argentina to ascertain the conditions of his wife Anna, so he agrees to the departure of his son.

Marco finally reaches Buenos Aires where his money is stolen and moreover there is no trace of his mother. Marco meets Violetta and her family who help him get to Bahia where he believes he can find his mother but he runs into a strange individual, Marcel, who makes him return to Buenos Aires alone. The man is actually a distant relative of his, Francesco Merelli, who had appropriated the letters and money that his mother Anna had entrusted to him to be sent to Italy.

Once back in Buenos Aires, Marco finds the traces of his mother who will take him from one city to another and finally, after numerous adventures, he is able to find his mother, now seriously ill and give her the strength to face the operation that it will then save your life. After a few weeks, mother and child can then leave for Italy. Before leaving for Genoa, Marco also meets his great friend Violetta, with whom there is now a bond that goes beyond friendship and who promises to convince his father Pepe to return to Italy, in order to find himself again, perhaps, one day in Genoa.

## Characters

### Rossi family

Marco

He is a Genoese boy who at the beginning of the story is about ten years old, but he is much more mature than his age and can hardly bear the attitude of sufficiency that other family members reserve for him, not making him participate in important decisions. He does not resign himself to his mother's departure for Argentina and comes to despise his father for not having emigrated himself in place of his wife. When his letters cease to arrive, he plans and executes his plan to go to South America to get his mother back.

Peter

Marco's father, he is about 45 years old. He goes into debt to fulfill the dream of his life, a clinic for the poorest and this will cause the ruin of the family and the departure of his wife for Argentina. As the story proceeds, his conflictual relationship with his younger son becomes more and more marked and unlike Marco, Pietro seems unable to make a decision to find and return his wife. After the son arrives to run away from home and hide on a departing ship, he finally agrees to have him leave for South America.

Anna

Marco's mother, she was about 38 when she emigrated to Argentina after the family found itself overwhelmed by the debts contracted by her husband. Once she arrives, with the help of Francesco Merelli, a distant relative, she will go to service with a wealthy Argentine family in Buenos Aires. Over time, he will change owners and follow him with his family to Tucumán where he will become seriously ill. Only Marco's arrival will give her the strength to react to the disease and recover, and then return with her son to Italy.

Tonio

Marco's older brother, he is forced to leave Genoa and find work in Milan. However, he will continue his studies secretly and will be able to graduate as a civil engineer.

Peppino

Marco's monkey who always follows him in his adventures.

### Amedeo family

Violet

She is a girl of the same age as Marco. Initially she is sad, depressed and almost apathetic, but Marco will teach her to have faith in herself and to cultivate her attitudes. She will become much more than a great friend to Marco and will help him in his difficult mission of reaching his mother in Argentina. He will emigrate with his family to Buenos Aires and will not resign himself to Marco's return to Italy with their consequent separation, trying to convince his father to return to Genoa.

Concetta

She is a little over sixteen and a beautiful girl, and Violetta's older sister. Singer and dancer in the company of her father helps Violetta with puppet shows.

Juliet

She is the youngest of the three daughters of Pepe the puppeteer and immediately becomes very good friends with Peppino, Marco's little monkey.

pepper

Pepe is a puppeteer who from Genoa will emigrate with his whole family to Argentina where, once Marco is found, he will provide him with indispensable help to find his mother. He is a good-hearted man whose words should not be relied upon too much, especially when he has had a few glasses of wine too many. Very fond of his three daughters, however, he has a conflictual relationship with Violetta, which he will begin to appreciate only when Marco brings her to express all her potential as a puppeteer and actress.

## Production

It was directed by Isao Takahata, while Hayao Miyazaki took care of the layout of the series and the person responsible for the character design was Yōichi Kotabe, already known for having done the same task for Heidi. The animated series is part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater (Sekai Meisaku Gekijo) project.

The series is the adaptation of From the Apennines to the Andes, one of the many stories that make up the novel Cuore by De Amicis. The same story was adapted a second time, in a much closer way to the original story, again by Nippon Animation in episodes 13 and 14 of the 1981 Heart anime.

### Foreign edition

In Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Turkey, the Arab countries and Israel, the series was an immediate success. In some European countries and Latin America the series is known simply as Marco, while in Arabic it was titled Wada'an Marco ("وداعا ماركو"), literally Goodbye Marco.

In Italy it was initially broadcast on Rai 1 in 1982, to then be replicated on Rai 2, with the simple title of Marco. In February 2011 it was broadcast for the first time by Mediaset, on Italia 1, with the longest title Marco, from the Apennines to the Andes in the morning. It was later broadcast on the other networks of the group, Hiro, in March of the same year, and Boing, from 8 September to 21 December 2014 only until episode 34. The most recent rerun started on Italia 1 on 7 September 2020 in the morning inside the Milk and cartons container. In the transition from Rai to Mediaset, the video clip broadcast by Rai was replaced with a shorter one composed of images taken from individual episodes, and with more modern opening and closing credits (in the opening theme broadcast by Rai, produced by Studio Mafera, the closing credits are static, while in the one broadcast by Mediaset they scroll upwards). Another difference between the two editions is the disappearance of the previews of the next episode in the broadcasts on Mediaset channels.