Alberto Scorfano

Alberto Scorfano is the deuteragonist of the 2021 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, Luca. He is a sea monster that lives on Isola del Mare, an Italian island, with no parental guardian. Alberto helps Luca Paguro to escape to Portorosso and enter the Portorosso Cup so they can buy a Vespa and see the world together.

Background

 * Alberto Scorfano is an independent, free-spirited 14-year-old sea monster with unbridled enthusiasm for the human world. Expressive and gregarious, he is all about having fun, so inviting a fellow sea monster to hang out above the surface is a no-brainer for Alberto. Besides, Luca is the perfect audience for Alberto’s vast – albeit questionable – knowledge of all things human.

Personality
Alberto proudly prizes his knowledge of the human world and, in being alone for so many days in the lighthouse, was instantly eager to share it all with Luca. He enjoys having fun, a trait that stays solid within him throughout the entire film. One of his dreams was to ride a Vespa, a special scooter depicted in a poster he had collected and stored in his home.

After meeting Luca, Alberto insisted on taking the lead. Having an opportunity at making a friend gave him the chance to tell the younger sea monster everything he knew about the humans, despite Luca's dislike of being told what to do. Seeing Luca and Giulia bonding over common interests made Alberto feel downcast as he didn't want to lose Luca, who was his only friend. The reason for this is that Alberto's father abandoned him because he said Alberto was old enough to take care of himself, despite the fact he was still a child. The isolation led him to feel incredibly lonely, to the point where he can become possessive and angry at people, believing they will leave him and will be alone again if he doesn't keep them close.

By the end of the movie, however, he is more considerate of Luca and even sells the Vespa he's always dreamed of having to give Luca a ticket to Genoa. He formed a close bond to Massimo and was willing to stay in Portorosso with him while Luca could be happy in Genoa going to school with Giulia.

Physical appearance
In human form, Alberto is slender with tan skin and light freckles, bright green eyes, and curly, golden-brown hair that is styled tall and has a cowlick. He wears a yellow tank top with brown shorts held up with a rope, and is barefoot all the time.

In sea monster form, Alberto has periwinkle scales and purple "hair". His eyes are still green, but they have yellow sclera and oval shaped pupils. He also has a long tail with purple caudal fins.

Alberto has a scar on his upper left arm, presumably by a harpoon. In human form it's a barely noticeable pale marking, while in his sea monster form it appears as a cut.

Luca
During a fishing trip with two fishermen, talking about the existence of sea monsters, Alberto sneaks up on them and starts taking various objects that they have. Once one of the fishermen spot Alberto, and he tries to escape but catches himself in a net. He eventually manages to escape as the fishermen throw a harpoon at him, but misses.

When going to get the objects that have sunk from the boat incident, he plays a prank on a young sea monster named Luca Paguro by wearing a diving suit and scaring him. Once proving to be a sea monster like him, Alberto resumes collecting the objects, and soon brings Luca up to the surface, and he gets mesmerized by the surroundings but immediately leaves to his concern.

Alberto later meets Luca when he convinces himself to go back to the surface, and give him a small lesson on walking before showing him the great offers of the surface, and then his hideout. Alberto then introduces the Vespa, explaining that it is a vehicle that can take you anywhere, and Luca suggests that they should make one. They spend a couple of hours on it before Luca returns home.

The next day, Alberto gets the Vespa down from the tower (by pushing it down and reassembling it) and gets Luca to hold the ramp while he rides it. However, the Vespa ends up breaking in the process, as Alberto and Luca spend the next couple of days rebuilding it. Alberto then convinces Luca to ride it down with him, but he's scared, to which he tells him to say "Silenzio, Bruno!" to cancel the negative thoughts in his head, giving Luca the confidence to ride it down the ramp with him. Later at night, Alberto tells Luca the stars are anchovies that go there to sleep and tells him a bit about the human town. This soon causes Luca to overstay at the island.

After Luca tells Alberto that his parents will send him to the deep, Alberto convinces him to hide away in the human town and ask "Singor Vespa" to build them a Vespa so they can see the world together. They soon sneak into the town, amazed by their surrounding, but soon get disrupted by a self-absorbed teen named Ercole Visconti when Luca almost damaged his Vespa by kicking a ball. Ercole starts to mock and bully them until a local fish delivery girl named Giulia Marcovaldo comes in and saves them. Giulia tells them that "underdogs" have to look out for each other, and also explains that she wants to compete in the Portorosso Cup to take down Ercole. Alberto seems uninterested in working with her but Luca seems interested, and they soon learn that the prize is money, which they can transfer into a cheap Vespa.

Trivia

 * His surname, Scorfano, is Italian for "scorpionfish".
 * Alberto was rumored to be just a human until it was confirmed that he, like Luca, was a sea monster.
 * As hinted by an interview by Enrico Casarosa, Alberto's first name comes from Enrico's childhood friend Alberto Surace. The film is dedicated to him.
 * A running gag features Alberto getting covered in water which reveals his true form, and he tries to hide to turn back to human.
 * Alberto has made 383 markings on the wall, meaning he has been living on his own for over a year.
 * At the beginning and end of the film, Alberto tells Luca, "Piacere, Girolamo Trombetta", despite not knowing what it means. Roughly translated, it means "Nice to meet you. My name is Twisty Trombone."
 * Alberto prides himself as an expert on humans but tends to misname several things related to the human world, similar to Scuttle.
 * His green eyes can possibly be alluded to his personality, as it is a representation of his jealousy. The color green also symbolizes renewal (getting off the island and reforming his identity), hope (possibly for his dad to come back), nature (love of the land), and safety as he's there to protect his friend Luca before himself.
 * His voice actor, Jack Dylan Grazer, stated in an interview that he thinks it would be "cool for [Luca and Alberto] if [they] got back together and fell in love".