20 Hidden Details of “Luca” That Make the Film Even More Beautiful

The film Luca is one of those beautiful animations that make you emotional when telling the story of friends Luca and Alberto. They are young and mature with discoveries and opportunities to get out of their comfort zone. The friends hide a secret, since they are sea monsters that manage to disguise themselves, posing as humans. They fear being discovered by the local population, who hunt sea monsters. The narrative, which also talks about the strength of friendship, is so enchanting that there may be details that go unnoticed even by very attentive viewers.

To show you the hidden symbols of this work, we at awesome.club, we decided to watch Luca again and made a list of the main easter eggs. Check out!

The first easter egg of the film appears right at the beginning of the story, in which the fishermen open the map with the indication of Portorosso, which is a fictional village, with real references to the Italian Riviera and its five paradisiacal villages, known as Cinque Terre, in the northwest coast of Italy, region of Liguria. In addition, the name Portorosso is a reference to the film Porco Rosso: The Last Romantic Hero, a famous Studio Ghibli production, which also created Spirited Away.

Those who watched Up — Altas Aventuras certainly remember the hat of the friendly character Carl Fredricksen. This is the film’s first reference to another Pixar/Disney animation.

In the original version of the film, director Enrico Casarosa is the one who voices this character in a beret who appears in one of the scenes.

In the scene in which Ercole Visconti drives the Vespa at a very fast pace, we observe the poster for the classic Italian film A Estrada da Vida.

The image of Marcello Mastroianni, one of Italy’s most famous actors, is referenced in the scene where Alberto and Luca go down the slope with the improvised vespa after shouting the iconic phrase “silence Bruno”.

And not only of Italian culture does Luca refer. The fictional Latazza cafe was inspired by the original Italian, quite famous, Lavazza cafe. Even the letter A of the logo makes this connection.

In the scene where Luca’s mother looks for him and ends up kicking a soccer ball that knocks a bucket over the head of a child she thinks is her son, the scenery reveals the poster for the movie The Princess and the Commoner. This movie was shot in Rome.

“Trenette al pesto” is a typical dish from the Liguria region and its inclusion in the story makes perfect sense. The characters love to taste beautiful pasta with the famous pesto sauce.

Giulia and her father Massimo Marcovaldo’s cat is called Machiavelli, inspired by the Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

Italian cuisine was also featured in a detail on the red boat in which Ercole appears with his friends. Focaccia, the name of the little boat, is a kind of traditional bread from Liguria.

In Luca’s imagination, he and Giulia fly. This scene reference was based on Leonardo da Vinci’s airplane design.

After Luca sees himself on Saturn flying, still in Giulia’s room, she shows the boy several books and they continue talking about astronomy. The scenery is quite curious and can go unnoticed, as a Donald Duck and a book with the inscription Nicolo Pietra appear in the background. The book is a reference to Pixar animator Nic Pitera.

Disney’s classic of classics from 1940 has not been forgotten. Did you notice Pinocchio, Geppetto’s creation, in this scene?

When Luca takes Giulia on the bike, a sign in the right corner indicates that this is the Via de Amicis road. This is a reference to the author of the children’s classic Coração, Edmondo De Amicis, writer and novelist.

The lively and intelligent Giulia’s costume is a reference to the Phineas and Ferb series, another Disney/Pixar work. The t-shirt is identical and both have red hair.

The Gustosa restaurant is a tribute to chef Gusteau, from Ratatouille, another brilliant work with the Pixar/Disney seal.

The train ticket that Alberto gives Luca contains an easter egg famous in the Pixar movies. It is the already known A113. But it is inserted in such a discreet way that many may not notice. This symbol was created by former students of the California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom they used for graphic design and character animation.

Alberto has a pet turtle named Caligula. A tribute to the famous Roman emperor.

In the race scene where Luca wears a helmet to swim, we get anxious rooting for the character and may not even notice, but it’s not just any helmet, since he’s the same one that appears in Finding Nemo, another work produced by Pixar and released by Disney.

Are there other details you noticed that are not on our list? Share with us your vision of the movie Luca! Perhaps our team will write a new article with part two of the curiosities about this animation? We look forward to your comments!