Rinaldo Montana is one of the older cousins of protagonist Tonino Montana, and no one admires Rinaldo more than Rinaldo himself.
Dashing[]
The adjectives used to refer to Rinaldo all sing the same tune -- he's dashing, he's charming, he's good-looking, he's smiling. But the impression he leaves on the reader is a little bit of a cockscomb and more than a little bit of a bully. He's the first to say something scathing about the Petrocchi family, and the first to suggest retaliation for some perceived slight or insulting act on their part. You get the feeling that although you might not care if you were on Rinaldo's good side or not, you'd really hate to be on his bad side.
Causing a Scene[]
Rinaldo seems to have a special talent for causing scenes. Everybody talks about the time he made it rain cowpats downtown for three days straight, which was bad for tourism. He said he did it because a Petrocchi insulted him. Then he causes a scene at Rosa Montana's introduction of her boyfriend Marco to the family, where they cause a golden pear tree to grow in the courtyard. Rinaldo swaggers up with a mean look on his face and demands to know what this Marco is lying about. Finally it is Benvenuto who calms things down by showing his approval of Marco, but Rinaldo is still in a snit about it all.