Dino
Dino was a boy from the town of Reanoto. He along with his friend Aldo witnessed the massacre of the town by the SS in 1944. Although Dino was the oldest of the surviving children at fourteen, he declined to be the group's leader, both because he didn't want to challenge the fierce Aldo and because he had his younger brother Mario and sister Maria to think of - with their parents dead, Dino was their sole remaining caregiver and he didn't want to risk his life to leave them, the two youngest out of all the children in the group, without any surviving family. He often clashed with Aldo nevertheless, and Aldo wasn't above threatening to throw him and his siblings out of the group if Dino didn't bow to his demands.
Prior to the arrival of Bianca, Dino would remain behind in the cave to guard the younger children with a shotgun, while the other boys went out on daring raids and missions. When Bianca came and took an immediate maternal interest in Mario and Maria, Dino found he had more freedom to go with the other boys on their missions while the doctor remained and tended to his brother and sister. The duties of guarding the younger children fell then to Silvio. This shift in the arrangement also gave Dino greater freedom to criticize the brash and reckless Aldo, which he did every chance he got.
Comments
- In Michael Avallone's novelization, Dino is named Guillermo.
