Memories of Old

Prologue

My name is Italy Veneziano, though my human name is Feliciano Vargas. I'm the younger twin brother to Italy Romano, or Lovino Vargas. I am the anthropomorphic personification of Northern Italy, and now considered the main personification of Italy. I'm happy-go-lucky, and highly oblivious. I love to paint, draw, sing, dance, play most instruments, and be around my friends. I am only as old as my nation. As a nation, I am immortal in every sense of the word; I cannot die from starvation or dehydration. If I do die, I don't stay dead; I'd simply come back to life. I am immune to all direct illnesses, and can only be affected through my people. I do not age past my early 20s. I am weak, and cowardly, and only good at running away and making pasta (among other delicious foods). I am clumsy for no reason. I am stupid.

This is what everyone knows about me, but much of it is a lie. I am not the main personification of Italy; Romano is. After all, Rome is the capital, and Rome is his heart, not mine. Venice will always be my heart. I am not oblivious, nor am I always happy. Much of my happiness is real, but there've been countless times when it's been faked. And one cannot be a great artist if one is blind to detail. Romano and I are not actually as old as our nation, but older—that'll be explained later. While I am immortal as any nation is, there's one aspect of a nation's immortality that I did not receive—once again, that will be explained later. I am not weak or cowardly. Romano and I run the Italian Mafioso behind the scenes. We rule our own underworld as a way to control crime in our nation. We've both killed many humans, and know how to fight, kill, and hide the evidence. I am clumsy for a reason. I am not stupid—I secretly helped Galileo with his theories of the Sun being the center of the solar system, even when the church persecuted him; I secretly helped him continue his research. Leonardo da Vinci was my best friend for decades, and we constantly worked together on many theories and theorems and paintings, and debated many things back and forth for hours with topics that would make anyone else's heads spin! I even helped him come up with the idea for, and design of, the helicopter and calculator! I had even co-written The Divine Comedy with Dante Alighieri. I am not an idiot. I am not stupid. Only Romano and I know the truth. We hoped that it would stay that way, too, but it was not to be. My name is Italy Veneziano, AKA Feliciano Vargas; and I was never supposed to exist.