This story recounts the life of Dr. Riggio as he grew up in the Italian Hill neighborhood of St. Louis during the first half of the 20th Century. Read how his father Silvestro and mother Frances raised him with the "Recipes for Survival," the discipline and the resolve he would need later as he grew up on The Hill. He then studied his way through St. Louis University Medical School, saw all types of patients including the "Gypsy Princess" at St. Louis County Hospital emergency room, treated families of experimental jet pilots as a Captain and Physician at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert in California and then returned to continue to raise his growing family with wife Geraldine "Gerry" back in St. Louis, Missouri.