Massimo Marcovaldo (2024)

Massimo Marcovaldo is a supporting character in the 2021 Disney•Pixar animated feature film Luca. He is the father of Giulia and a new friend of Luca Paguro and Alberto Scorfano.

Background[]

Official Description[]

Massimo Marcovaldo, Giulia's dad, is an imposing, tattooed, one-armed fisherman of few words, killing anything that swims. Luca and Alberto can't help but be intimidated by his formidable size and skill with a knife, but Massimo has a soft heart, especially for his daughter.^[2]

Personality[]

Despite appearing as a cold and threatening man with his intimidating look, Massimo is actually sweet, caring, and a hardworking father who happens to hunt sea monsters as a passion, as he is concerned about his daughter repeating the race due to her getting humiliated and sad last year. There are of course moments where he can be menacing and serious, especially when it comes to his fisherman job, which leads him to be one of the most respected and the most feared in the town. He is definitely affectionate towards others, especially Alberto, having him take him out on fishing trips and even repeat his actions of eating pasta with his bare hands (only when no one is around).

Massimo also is shown to have a sense of humor where he once told Alberto that a sea monster ate his arm before he revealed he was joking and that he was actually born with one arm.

Physical appearance[]

Massimo is a bulky adult Italian man with tan skin, short brown hair, bushy eyebrows that cover his eyes, and a short mustache that covers his mouth. He was born without his right arm. He wears a light yellow short-sleeved sweater and brown pants. He also has a tattoo of a sea monster on his left arm.

Appearances[]

Luca[]

Massimo is first seen preparing dinner as his daughter Giulia brings in her two friends for dinner to which as Giulia receives an article from her father, she shows the two of an article of a sea monster sighting at Isola del Mare to which Giulia believes that this article is fake. However, Massimo denies just before getting the dinner ready. He then serves the trenette al pesto dish to the four and as the two begin eating the pasta he served them, he asks to know what brings them to Portorosso, to which Giulia explains that Luca and Alberto are there for the Portorosso Cup. After dinner, Massimo discusses with his daughter about participating in the race, explaining to her that he doesn't want her to lose the race because she would always get upset upon losing as well as explaining to her that participating during the Cup is not free and participators must pay to participate in this event. When Massimo explains that he needs to catch more fish for his net, Luca plans to help Massimo catch fish so that he can make money for Giulia to participate during the Cup.

The next day, Massimo tells Giulia to make deliveries to the townspeople while telling Luca and Alberto to catch fish for him. As they arrive at the ocean, Massimo greets Tommaso who tells him to keep an eye out for any sea monsters around as he arrives with his harpoon to protect himself from sea monsters. During a plan to catch fish, Massimo explains that he didn't catch enough fish for the day to which Alberto explains to him that the spot they are at is where most fish will be at the exact spot. Having caught enough fish for him, Giulia thanks her father for the task just before Luca and Alberto approach an ad promoting the Portorosso Cup. That night after a tough training, Massimo offers Alberto to help him with the fishing nets so that he can do the task for him.

During a training montage, Massimo helps Alberto catch more fish to help make more money for the Cup and later teaches Alberto how to eat pasta properly. Later after Alberto is forced to return back to his hideout after revealing his true form to Giulia (following Luca betraying him), Luca and Giulia return to Massimo's kitchen (this time without Alberto) to which Luca decides to keep Alberto's identity private so that no one could notice him in sea monster form just before he and Machiavelli leave. Giulia later explains to Luca (who reveals part of his sea monster form after she splats water on him) about the dangers of Portorosso, explaining to him that her father hunts sea monsters, telling him to get out of the town before the townspeople notice him to which Luca discusses that his parents are going to send him to Uncle Ugo at the deepest part of the ocean where no humans could detect him, believing that he would feel miserable just before he leaves and sits at the beach.

The next day during the Portorosso Cup, Massimo cheers on for his daughter while his pet cat Machiavelli holds a banner for him. Later, Massimo notices the rain arriving at Portorosso, alongside the other townspeople during the bike competition, but he also notices a boy, Alberto, who is running on foot with a big blue umbrella. After Luca and Alberto arrive at the finish line in sea monster form, after Giulia rammed Ercole to save her friends, falling disastrously to the ground, Massimo notices the two sea monsters without recognizing them, and he grabs a harpoon to kill them as Giulia gets helped by the two to get back to her feet and get to the finish line. The father arrives to the three kids, being shocked that she is being helped by the two monsters, and even more so when he realizes that they are Luca and Alberto. Suddenly, an angry mob surrounds the sea monsters, as fishermen are equipped with harpoons and nets to kill the sea monsters. After noticing Ercole confronting Giulia, and asking her who are the sea monsters, Massimo later arrives and tells everyone that he knows who they are. Massimo revealed that they are Luca and Alberto and that they are the winners, much to their surprise. Massimo asks Signora Marsigliese to confirm if they have actually won the race, to which she explains they technically and legally are the winners (as their bike made it across the finish line), much to Ercole's disgust. Massimo, with just an intimidating stare, faces the fishermen to leave now because Luca and Alberto are not harming anyone, to which they begrudgingly accept and walk away. Later that night, Massimo serves Luca's parents the pasta he makes, with sea monsters being accepted to Portorosso.

As Giulia gets ready for school, Massimo makes sure to know if his daughter has her lunch ready as well as the sweater when it gets cold to which she tells that she does, just before Giulia leaves for the train leading to Genova, alongside Luca and Alberto. Later in the end, it is revealed that he took the lonesome Alberto in as his own son.

Ciao Alberto[]

In the short, Alberto faces Massimo and his pet cat Machiavelli just as he and Massimo throw a net to help him catch fish and later after Alberto's narration explains that Massimo tells him everything where the two face each other while on Massimo's boat. Later when Alberto is having dinner with Massimo at his house while enjoying trennette al pesto, Alberto narrates to himself that Massimo doesn't talk much unless he breaks the rules just as he narrates to himself that he will make Massimo proud. After Alberto finishes writing his letter, Massimo approaches Alberto who tells him that he is late for his delivery task just as Alberto takes the fish without grabbing Massimo's list as Alberto throws fish across the town of Portorosso. Alberto then returns to Massimo where he finds angry customers complaining to what Alberto did to them while delivering the fish, much to Massimo's disappointment.

Back at Alberto's home at his kitchen, Alberto explains to Massimo that he knows how to cook like him in which Alberto places a can of tomato sauce on the pasta he is cooking without opening it first, splattering the tomato sauce all over Massimo, disappointing Massimo again. Later when Alberto is pushing a barrel of fish, Massimo tells him to wait so that he could help him in which Alberto didn't listen to what he said much to Massimo's shock for not listening to what he said. Later that night on Massimo's boat, Machiavelli sees Alberto who notices Alberto holding a lantern in which he is frightened upon seeing Massimo's cat in which Alberto notices Massimo's boat is on fire while he was talking to Machiavelli much to Massimo's worry about what happened to his boat. As Alberto approaches Massimo while at the beach, he stares angrily at Alberto for what he did to his boat just as Alberto sadly walks away while Massimo notices his boat being burned down.

Massimo later approaches Alberto, who was about to leave Portorosso for his inability to impress Massimo. Massimo tries to get him to reconsider, but Alberto snaps and ask him why does he even care and that he doesn't even like him, which is why he doesn't even talk to him. When Massimo tries to stop Alberto again by placing his hand on Alberto's shoulder, he goes as far as to accidentally calling Massimo "Dad", which shocks both of them. Massimo then speaks to Alberto, explaining that he once made his father angry and after having a conflict with him, he was able to fix the problem just as Alberto gives him a big hug, which surprises him and he returns the hug. The next day, Massimo and Alberto work together to repair the boat that was damaged by the fire last night in which Massimo explains to Alberto that the storm he faced when while on board was a dangerous hurricane which he has ever sailed through.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• Massimo's mustache looks identical to the muzzle on Machiavelli.
  • This could be a possible reference to Enrico Casarosa's short film La Luna, where Bambino compared Papà and Nonno's preferred tool to their facial hair.
• In early adaptions of the films, there was a scene called Seamonster Cannery, where they canned 100% Prime Sea Monsters and sold them as cat food. Massimo's daughter, Giulia takes out a water gun and sprays Luca Paguro with it and then Massimo stakes him into boiling out oil that turns the Sea monsters into canned versions.^[3]
• It's made obvious in the film that Massimo begins feeling a fondness for Alberto. A hint of this was when both Alberto and Luca are exposed during the race. When Massimo says both of their names, identifying the two, his eyebrows contort into a sad expression when looking at Alberto. This could also be that he felt bad for wanting to kill him, given that the night before, he went to look for Alberto to ensure he was safe.

References[]

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