Lovino Vargas

**Lovino Vargas** is a character from the manga/anime series, *Hetalia*, and the *Tea Leaves* series. He is Feliciano Vargas's older brother and the personification of Southern Italy.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Lovino has dark brown hair and has more of an olive complexion than his younger brother in earlier artwork, but there is a tan tone to his skin. His eyes were originally green, but became colored hazel or dark brown in most of the later colored art.

Like his brother, he has a wild long curl that acts as his erogenous zone, though it rests on the right side of his head, as opposed to the left. In most artwork and merchandise, he is shown to wear a khaki uniform in a different style than Italy's (and more similar to Antonio's), with three-quarter-length sleeves. But in the published manga and anime, he instead wears a virtually identical uniform. In his very first appearance in the webcomic, Lovino's shirt and belt were colored white, but were later shaded in dark. The actual color of the uniform is unknown due to it only appearing in black-and-white art, though fanworks often depict it as being a lighter blue.

As a child, he did not usually wear a maid dress like his brother but simply the apron, as seen in early strips of Boss Spain's Control of Southern Italy. But in some strips like the ones in Comic Diary 9, he is depicted wearing a dress of an unknown color.

A chibi image by Himaruya, as well as a figurine, also show that Lovino has a casual sailor outfit like Felicano, but with the blue accents replaced by green.

### Personality

Lovino is friendly and kind to women, but is strict and less social towards men. In particular, he is openly rude to both Ludwig and Francis. Despite appearing to be tougher than his younger brother, he is just as cowardly and ineffectual, if not more. Though he is not very skilled with his hands, it is said that he is a good pickpocket. He is also has a habit of speaking in profanity, particularly the words "bastard" and "dammit".

As a child, he often slacked off and slept when it came to chores, though he was rather clumsy when he actually tried to do them. In **Comic Diary 10** and blog illustrations by Himaruya, as well as in the first part of **Boss Spain's Control Of Southern Italy**, it is revealed that the younger South Italy had a bed-wetting problem and often had trouble finding the toilet due to the vast size of Spain's mansion. In *Hetalia: Axis Powers* volume 1, it is also revealed that he had the disease chorea as a child, and that it played a part in his clumsiness. Antonio attempted to heal him by making him dance the Tarantella; Lovino appeared to recover from the disease, whether due to those efforts or not.

When using grenades, he seemingly has no clue of the correct way to throw them (throwing the pin rather than the actual grenade, a habit shared by his brother). In the strip **In Two Minutes, You Can Grasp The Exterior Of The European Economy**, it is shown that he is often controlled and led around by his own mafia. It is partially due to the influence of the mafia that his view of the world is more biased and bleak than Italy's.

While Italy eats a variety of foods other than pasta or tomato, Lovino refuses to eat any foreign foods, especially if it happens to be either cheese or potatoes. He has the verbal tic of making a "Chigi" (or "Chigigi") sound when he is agitated or when his haircurl is pulled.

Like his younger brother, he loves pasta, siestas, and flirting with girls. His hobbies are farming and cooking.

## Back Story

Lovino is first shown briefly in the Chibitalia segment of Episode 01 as a small child, and makes further non-speaking cameos in Episode 02 (where the brothers are bullied by the other nations) and Episode 04 (being stepped on by a victorious Austria). The adult Lovino finally appears in Episode 07, which adapts Meet My Big Brother! and Good Luck! Big Brother! from Axis Powers Hetalia volume 1.

His childhood is further detailed in Episodes 60-62, 67, 68, and Episode 75-77 which adapt Boss Spain's Control of Southern Italy. This shows the time from when Antonio firsts acquires Lovino to where he begins fighting Francis and Sadik for him.

He is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa, who also voices Feliciano. Namikawa also initially voiced the child version of Lovino in the first episode, but the role was later recast for Hetalia: 'World Series', with Aki Kanada providing the voice (as she did for his brother).

In the anime adaptation (much like the later colored manga artwork), Lovino is given lighter skin, rather than being olive-skinned. Though he is depicted as wearing his pants over a short pair of boots in a character sketch for the manga, his anime turnaround instead shows him to have his pants tucked into a pair of tall boots (that look much like his brother's). His first military uniform is also colored khaki, with the shirt being maroon and the tie being navy.

## Storyline History

### Tea Leaves and Silver Rings

Lovino is first seen at Antonio's house party before the Spaniard gets a phone call from Gilbert about the Woman in Red. The Italian man isn't happy about being kicked out so abruptly. Later, he calls Felicano to let him know that he will be working late that night. However, Lovino gets confused on why his brother asks if he would ever kill him? The other Italian man says no and tries to understand what Felicano is saying before the younger brother hangs up.

### Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Feliciano begs him not to kill him and asks him why he thinks that he's too pure for this world. His question stirs something inside of Lovino, causing him to push away his brother and slowly back out of the room. Just like Feliciano, he starts to sense that something isn't right. Antonio has been trying to keep him in the dark, but the Italian man already had the hint. Later, Lovino starts to have dreams about something that seems to be his past life. The visions cause him to huddle into a ball and tremble.

### Tea Leaves and Sapphire Earrings

Lovino wakes up Feliciano when the phone rings one morning. He is confused after his brother jumps of bed and runs out of the room.

### Tea Leaves and Purple Robes

Lovino notices that something is wrong with Feliciano. His brother seems dead inside and disappears in the middle of the night. He's trying to look for a way to fix it when his brother comes into the room. At dinner, Lovino notices that Feliciano isn't eating his dinner. He really knows that something is wrong when his brother isn't interested in pasta anymore. Later, he sees Feliciano walk out close to midnight with Sabine Mayfair. Lovino calls Antonio for help. Later, he calls Ludwig for help as well.

### Tea Leaves and Black Lipstick

Lovino doesn't know what to do about his brother and has been keeping Ludwig away from him. The German man asked him how Feliciano was doing. The Italian man said that he didn't know and slammed the door in his face.

## Relationships

### Ludwig

*Main Article: Ludwig*

Unlike his brother, Lovino hates Ludwig and cannot stand to see him and Italy together. He refers to Ludwig as a "potato bastard" and "macho potato".

Lovino had attempted to get revenge on a few occasions, but failed each time:

* Tried to charge at Ludwig, but slipped on a banana peel and skinned his arm (**Italy's Big Brother**, Webcomic).
* Pulled the pin off a "Red Devil" grenade, but threw the pin instead of the actual grenade, which he held in his mouth (**Italy's Big Brother**).
* Threatened to throw tomatoes at Ludwig and "rip every muscle" off of his body, but wound up frightened by Francis (**Meet My Big Brother!**, *Hetalia: Axis Powers* volume 1).
* Attempted to embarrass Ludwig by holding up a fake mustache (to make him look like he was sporting one), but wound up making himself look like he wore the mustache instead (**Good Luck! Big Brother!**, *Hetalia: Axis Powers* volume 1).

It is suggested that he might hate Germans in general, seeing that he thought one as a danger when he was a kid and got scolded by Antonio because he believed the German would attack Antonio. A line in **Italy's Big Brother** also reveals that his stereotype of Germans is that they are all "uncivilized country bumpkins with bad physiology". When Ludwig noted that Italy happened to have Germanic blood as well, it caused Lovino to go into a rage and attempt to charge at him (only for the above banana incident to occur).

### Feliciano Vargas

*Main Article: Feliciano Vargas*

The two brothers grew up knowing of each other, but they never actually met face to face. Feliciano eventually went off to live with their grandfather for some time, while Lovino stayed behind. After Grandpa Rome had died and Italy came back, Lovino and the other boys became bullies to him. The two were separated again at the end of the Italian War, when Feliciano was claimed by the Holy Roman Empire and Roderich, while Lovino was sent to live with Antonio because he was too difficult to deal with.

In the present day, the two brothers do not get along very well; Lovino occasionally refuses to acknowledge his brother's existence, though Feliciano is more than eager to be around his older brother. As a child, Lovino often felt jealous and inferior to Feliciano, due to the younger brother inheriting their grandfather's talent for art, while he could barely draw. He also felt that his brother took after their grandfather in appearance more. Despite this though, he is shown to have at least a subconscious care for him, becoming upset when his brother implies he does not admire him, and sharing a bed with him. Usually when it is hinted that he cares about Feliciano though, something happens that angers him and he instantly reverts back.

### Kiku Honda

*Main Article: Kiku Honda*

Though they have to met only briefly in an earlier "strip" (in which they did not actually interact beyond introductions and Kiku's pondering of the brothers' curls), Himaruya has stated that they would both get along rather well and that Kiku would refer to the other as "Lovino-kun" (after initially "-san").

### Antonio Fernández Carriedo

*Main Article: Antonio Fernández Carriedo*

Because Antonio raised him, Lovino has assimilated his culture, customs, religion, and his love for tomatoes. While Antonio often acts affectionately towards him, Lovino tends to treat him rather coldly because he believes that Antonio just wants his grandfather's inheritance. Deep down, he does care about Antonio, though he rarely shows it openly; he seems to become extremely jealous when Spain is with someone else. When Antonio caught a cold, Lovino increases imports from Antonio (despite having a cold himself) and overcomes his weakness to the mafia (even though he usually bends to their will).

In his youth, Lovino would often jump on Antonio or headbutt him in the stomach to wake him up. This caused Antonio to have a nightmare where an adult Lovino jumped on him and "crushed his vital regions".

## Trivia

* Like his brother, Lovino's birthday falls on March 17th, which is the date that the "Kingdom Of Italy" was formed. He was also represented with the flag for the Kingdom in the original webcomic art, though the modern Italian one is now used for him. Lovino is confirmed to be the elder of the two; despite this, some fans continue to mistake them for twins.
* His full nation name, Italy Romano, is derived from Rome, the capital of Italy. In the actual strips, he is simply Romano, though South Italy is also used to differentiate him from his younger brother. Historically however, he would represent either kingdom of Sicily and Naples (which later became "The Kingdom Of The Two Sicilies"), which were part of Southern Italy and wound up under the control of Spain. Romano is an existent Italian male first name, derived from the Latin title "romanus" (which originally meant "a citizen of the Roman Empire", but now simply "native of Rome"). In addition, Romano can be seen as a pun on the phrase "Roma no", meaning "of Rome".
* Lovino is one of the Axis Powers during the Second World War which would bring the total of Axis Powers in the story to four. This can be seen when he and North Italy were captured by England in episode 63.
* According to Hidekaz Himaruya, Lovino's hair is colored darker than Italy's due to him having Arabic blood. Himaruya described him as having both "darker hair" and a "darker personality". But in a 2006 profile of Italy on Kitayume, Lovino briefly appeared in an illustration with black hair, as opposed to the dark brown hair Himaruya would settle on.
* You can tell Feliciano and Lovino apart hair wise when Lovino has dark hair and his curl is in the middle of his hair and Feliciano's hair is light brown and his curl is on the side of his hair. Lovino's hair is also parted differently from Feliciano's, the former having his hair parted on the left side of the head and the latter from the middle of the head.

## Source

* Basic Information: http://hetalia.kitawiki.net/index.php?title=South\_Italy