A few days ago we saw the latest Pixar animated film , Luca , on Disney+ . A true tribute to friendship, to the last experiences of childhood that begin to be confused with puberty and to the golden age of Italian cinema, the ’50s and ’60s.
In Luca , in addition to falling in love with the protagonist and his friends Alberto and Giulia , we fully immerse ourselves in Italian culture through a city invented for this film, Portorosso, a name that serves as a tribute to the Studio Ghibli film “Porco Rosso” . 
Porco Rosso (1992).
As for the landscape, we find ourselves in an invented town, inspired by the Cinque Terre, a charming place found on the Italian Riviera, in Liguria, made up of five fishing villages that seem frozen in time for the sole reason of making one dream. to those who visit them (a map that they show us in the first scene of the film allows us to locate ourselves).
Even when watching the film in English, the original language, the unmistakable Italian accent is present at all times accompanied by idioms and phrases typical of the Bel Paese .
The story is about sea monsters that inadvertently scare the townspeople who want to destroy them and especially about a boy-monster named Luca , who lives with his family in the sea and collects objects from the land (here we have a reference to the 1989 film that “resurrected”, so to speak, the company of the most famous mouse: “The Little Mermaid” or “The Little Mermaid”).
His adventure partner is Alberto , who, unlike Luca , lives by the sea with his father, who is absent from the story.
Both children blend in with humans when they surface, so they are mistaken for ordinary boys, as long as they don’t get wet.
And when Luca sees a poster featuring the classic Italian motorcycle “Vespa” (symbol of freedom) at his new friend’s house, he’s driven to own one. From here, the boys get moving. First they build it and then, together with their new friend Giulia , they participate in the “Portorosso Cup”, a local competition, with the intention of winning to be able to buy a real motorcycle with the prize.
As did Ercole , the antagonistic character, the bad guy in the story, who curiously always wins and owns a red Vespa .
The adventures in which the three boys are involved are of a simplicity and freshness that I had not seen for a long time (a friendship in the style of Harry Potter , Ron and Hermione ).
They are accompanied by the parents of the main protagonist, Daniela and Lorenzo , and Giulia ‘s father , Massimo , among other beloved characters, such as Luca ‘s grandmother .
How was Luca born?
The Genoese director Enrico Casarosa was inspired by the moments he lived during his childhood with his parents, in Liguria.
Casarosa was accompanied, as you can imagine, by his close friend Alberto . The Director tells that his friend was a troublemaker and that by following him, he got into more than one problem but when he started working on this film, remembering those moments, he began to wonder if each of us would be the same if we didn’t have friends what we have.
He also expressed that he wanted to represent a “children’s world”, a sense of permanent wonder, and with Luca he fulfills his mission.
Casarosa adds that the protagonist of this story “has a great desire” (…) “there is something that activates him and, really, if he can overcome his own ‘Bruno’ (read ‘fears’) he can fulfill his dreams”.
But the sources that inspired the creator of the story do not stop here; They are also found in “Breaking Away,” a 1979 film about a small-town boy obsessed with the Italian cycling team, who becomes determined to compete for his love for a young college girl, and in Studio Ghibli films .
The influence of Hayao Miyazaki , the characters in his stories, the wonderful imperfection of his drawings and the dreamlike sensation that his movies give off were another point of inspiration for the Italian director.
Hayao Miyazaki.
The wasp
The classic Italian motorcycle deserves a separate point. Born in 1946 and for a matter of practicality. Its creator was the aeronautical engineer Enrico Piaggio .
In a short time, the Vespa was already part of Italian culture, becoming one of its most precious symbols.
And the cinema was not indifferent to her; In addition to finding her in the 1953 film “Roman Holidays“, “Vacanze Romane” in Italian and “Roman Holiday” in the original language, by director William Wyler with a script by Dalton Trumbo, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck), we can see her in the classic film by Italian director Federico Fellini , “La Doce Vita”, from 1960, interpreted as you will remember, by Marcelo Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg.
Genoese pesto
In Luca , Massimo , Giulia ‘s father , cooks noodles with pesto and it is no coincidence since Genoese pesto is the favorite condiment in Liguria, where it is called “green gold”.
It was created in the ‘800 and its main ingredient is basil (basilico in Italian), although at the time of the Romans Virgil mentioned a sauce made with herbs, cheese, salt, oil and vinegar, which leads to suppose that this is its predecessor.
