June 27, 1954
The Locals consider L’alta Pendenza as the highest Fontane Bianchi hill, where the Boccardi family enjoys a magnificent view of the Ionian Sea. Bruno built his family country house on the east side of a seven-acre lot, facing the ocean, at a 146-foot-high cliff.
There was a small beach of fine white sand in the middle, which il signore Boccardi calls it: ─La Piccola Spiaggia Bianca. (The little white Beach). And in getting to the Spiaggia Bianca, the architect order to build a path with tears steps. The landscape designers enhanced the pad with trees and other exotic types of plants and shrubs. We planted them on the right-hand surface of the pathway going towards the shore. My grandfather placed several benches, posts with lamps for night hiking; they illuminated the entire beach with fluorescent floodlights when in use in the evenings. For family gatherings at the beach, built a fifteen-foot-long platform constructed above the seashore with a gazebo; the family and friends made their barbecue and enjoyed the ocean views taking advantage of the white sandy beach on a sunny day. Its entire collection heightened the Villa’s warm summer months.
Bruno’s name it La Villa Boccardi. The locals considered the Villa the city’s iconic symbol, with its Greco-Roman characteristics, and blended with an old Etruscan design. Its contemporary architectural plan for the project was another creative work of the Hellenic architect, Ballio Morpurgo. Which adopted similar architectural ideas from the Villas of the Greek Islands? Like the Orthodox churches on the island of Santorini. The three main blue-domes stood out for their classic Cycladic architecture and the bright color contrasts: amidst the whitewashed walls, the blue-colored domes, alongside the primary black volcanic , futuristic sidewall.
The Villa stood out with well-blended landscapes among the different green mixed shades with fifty olive trees on each side. The olive trees, the Italian cypresses, and the four giant stone pines traced the Villa’s four corners. As a last touch of its millionaire design, it was the impressive granite cobblestone road. And the quarry fountain in the middle of the roundabout. Who stands out as a focal point of the Italian baroque art in front of the Villa’s main entrance door? The Ionian blue sea and the white sandy beach bay under the warm summer sun strengthen Villa’s architectural design as a magnificent natural background.
In Fontane Blanche Bay, we could find friendly people. Its population is about 900 residents, and the town’s location is about 12 km from Syracuse’s capital. The white-sand beach gives the bay an appeal for tourists to relax with the south coast bay’s views, joining the fisher’s village. The delta of the Cassibile river is nearby. Two kilometers away. It serves as a magnificent estuary for many seabirds to nest and breed near our Villa when the river delta closes. There are several restaurants, Osterias, and Vendettas, which offer their food specials of the day.
Our local chefs cook their best recipes to satisfy the demanding visitors’ tastes, without ignoring its authentic cuisine; the exquisite giant shrimp, golden in their shells in a frying pan, cooked with olive oil and lemon juice garnished with lemon cuts and parsley.
─Il Maestro Dino Ponti, dressed in its star chef outfit, frequently satisfies the locals and tourists with his secret sauces and the never missing olive oil with garlic. He welcomes the clientele with the special dish of the house, Tonno, a pepperoni Allah Siracusa. Including several other delicious recipes on his list. And the never missing; the ‘Special of the Day,’ the best value meal, constantly added to all menu cards. It would be almost impossible when strolling on the boardwalk not to see when you pass the ‘Ristorante Fontane Bianche Lido.‘ With its many outdoor beach tables. Under the long white and blue main entrance door awning, three tables row facing the beach and lounge beach chairs, with a small side table facing the ocean.
We were ready to eat good seafood. It was the great variety of items on the menu that drew us hungry for fish.
But not the common swordfish. We sat at a table under a colorful umbrella; While we were looking at the menu, we heard: “¡Mmm! ¡Mmm! Mamma Mia, Questo Piatto sembra delizioso?”
“Mamma Mia, the meal looks delicious? Said a tourist sitting next to our table after the youthful female server delivered two delicious seafood dishes.”
My mother always craved seafood, and after looking at the menu, she ordered a red snapper with tomatoes, black olives, and capers. A glass of Passito di Pantelleria supple-mented her meal. After enjoying her delicious seafood dish, my mother said that it was well prepared. And everything was exquisite — as a low-carb diet. In this beautiful and secluded location of the Sicilian Island, the tourist experiences the fresh catch of the day cooked at the Syracuse style, accompanied by an Italian white spumante and the seashore’s lovely view. ─The famous white sandy beaches of Fontane Bianche and the coast with clear blue water call the bay: – ‘La Perla Della Sicilia.’
For the moment, this was the last sentence of the narrative of Leonardo’s recollections. But then he took a brief break with his verbal account of his grandfather’s Villa.
Looking out the window, he noticed that the massive black cloud has vanished from the horizon. After a few minutes of meditation, with the use of his dictation through a speech recognition app. One more time, Leonardo dictated his childhood events as a — witness narrator and an intradiegetic narrator.
The Centuries-old Self-Care Practice.
Leonardo was born on September 9, 1943, at the Toronto Western Hospital. Anabella was about to turn 15 when she had an only child; he grew up in the Annex district of downtown Toronto, on Madison Avenue.
Bruno Boccardi bought a house for his family before leaving for Catania. Since then, the little boy lived with his single underage mother and his twenty-five-year-old uncle Jean Carlo as the older brother, both live under his safekeeping. Leonardo always respected JC as if he was his father. Little Leonardo attended his first six years of eleme-ntary education at Huron Street Junior Public School. — At that early age when Leo was in 4th grade.
The teachers discovered he had a gifted mind. In his 6th grade, Leonardo could read and memorize college-grade and examine and perform multiple tasks. Gain knowledge of mathematical sequences, algebra 2, geometry, trigono-metry, and calculus, incomplete order at an early age. Because of its extensive production of Astrocytes, Leo gained a mental ability, and by using these brain enhancers, he has now reached a — Genius Intellect.
“That pleasant morning when I listened to my mother’s scream coming from the Villa’s Foyer.”⸺
“Leonardo, Dove sei? Rispondimi!”
“Leonardo, where are you? Answer me!”
“After I hear my mother’s scream.—I replied in perfect Italian language that she had taught me since childhood:”
“Che Cosa if desidera che mamma?”
“Sono sul balcone del nonno a leggere un libro.”
“What do you need, mom?”
“I am on Grandpa’s balcony, reading a book.”
Leonardo enjoyed reading self-help historical books. So that morning, he was reading the mother of all self-help books written by Horatio W Dresser — ‘A Book of Secrets.’ published in 1903.
At twelve years of age, he showed an interest in learning to self-discipline his mind. Leo’s greatest wish was to get his mental awakening. So that compassionately, he could help others do the same. He was a well-disposed youngster; besides, he did not believe in wars either. ― It may sound like an excellent staff for some people. But young Leonardo did it with patience and determination.… after responding to his mother’s request, Anabella replied with a friendly voice: “I want you to go to the Mondadori bookstore and buy the latest ‘Flying’ magazine for me—please, my son!”
Leonardo responded: “Okay, mom!”
“Just give me a few minutes!—I will leave soon!”
After hearing the order giving by his mother, the young Lad got up from the hammock, got ready to go downtown to buy and bring back his mother’s Flying magazine.
With obedience, and — pronto! Leonardo went down the stairs and took the money from Anabella to buy her magazine; Got on his bike and took off, pedaling a kilometer away, along a narrow and winding road to the center of Fontane Bianche to the only books and magazine shop, the ‘Mondadori’ bookstore. In a short time, little Leonardo reached his destination. Place the bicycle against a lamppost soon after entering the bookstore, searching for the ‘Flying’ magazine. — As soon as Leo walked between two large bookshelves on the left side wall under the Philosophy section. A small book caught his attention. He picked it up from the bookshelf and quickly flicked through the 152 pages. Its title was ‘Siddhartha,’ written by the German writer Hermann Hesse, published in 1921 and translated into English in 1951. The book deals with the spiritual journey of self-help-discovery of a Prince of the Shakya clan named Siddhartha Gautama and later known as Gautama, the Awakened One (The Buddha).
“If we hear Buddha’s name in this day and age, we may think of Siddhartha-Gautama…! Siddhartha was not the only Buddha; there were several before him. His real name was Siddhattha Gotama. The word ‘Buddhi(a)’ means — one who has awakened his higher intellect. And, one who is above his intelligence is a Buddha. No one in the world’s history has not heard Siddhartha’s name. Even though there have been other Buddhas, his title has endured ever since. The enlightened Gautama has been one of the most significant spiritual influencers and probably the most outstanding spiritual teacher on the planet. He formed forty thousand faithful followers, monks, in his own lifetime—and this army of monks went out to produce a massive spiritual wave. He offered devoutness to society to achieve their own salvation from the ‘ego’ mind and reach a higher intellect. He provided the spiritual process only in the Sanskrit language in that part of the world, and Sanskrit was available only to a distinct community. They barred others from learning it because they saw this language as the key to the Divine. Being this the case, for the first time, Gautama preached his lectures in the Pali language, which was the standard dialect of the day. He opened the gates of spirituality for all humanity.”
—Siddhartha’s teachings and norms guided people of those times the self-perfect by themselves. According to the desire that they put into their daily Yoga Self-Care Practice, so will the results. Miracles do not exist. In this Yoga Self-Care Practice, people need to form them with their imagination. Hesse declared: “The awakening of our consciousness is the true link to connect with our internal sainthood. It is often criticized and discredited because it establishes itself in the knowledge of actual spiritual self-help care practice. It’s not only a method to become a saint, to achieve it through your spiritual bond; but you can also achieve it through an austere discipline, full of happiness, enthusiasm, health, and love, or at any time in your life.”
Siddhartha taught that wisdom, patience, and compa-ssion were essential virtues. All his disciples, to achieve their goal, need to live by the five correct precepts. They just used them as a guideline to live enjoyable lives. They also help the practitioner overcome the Three Poisons, which are ignorance, greed, and hatred.
The 4 Noble Truths, the Noble 8-Fold Path, and Dependent Origination Principals; these yoga precepts started understanding that the body and mind work in a corrupted way (right view); accepted by entering the enlightened path of self-observance, self-restraint, and cultivating kindness and compassion. Culminating in Samadhi, which reinforces these practices, develops the body-mind. In later publications, insight became the central instrument for redemption. It led to a novel concept and structure of the path, in which the ‘goal’ of the way is to attain enlightenment. (It can stop the ignorance.) Thus, gaining the Supreme Wisdom of the Consciousness Awakening. ─A Guru in India is an Awakened Teacher. This means; One who banishes the darkness and guides you towards your inner light. In a more traditional language, he is a respectful figure to the student. Now, the Awakened One (The Buddha) serving as a (Teacher), who helps mold values, bestows a Self-Care Practice to gain Supreme Knowledge. (Which includes true insight, a living exemplar in life, an inspirational source, and one who helps in the spiritual evolution). An Enlightened Teacher is also one’s spiritual guide, helping one discover the same capacities that the Teacher has already realized. Therefore, the followers call Siddhartha-Gotama the awakened master ─Shakyamuni Buddha.
The enlightened teacher taught his closest followers how to recover their inherent wisdom, which would undoubtedly help them achieve their final awakening. The ─Supreme Enlightenment. These were the last sentences the young Leonardo Boccardi read from the book.
Then Leonardo thought…?
“Wow! — What an exciting book?” “I believe this Self-Care Practice could be useful for participants of other faiths and religious schools?” “This Self-care practice will animate you to support a healthy relationship with yourself, transmitting good feelings to others. You cannot offer others what you do not have yourself. While some may get a wrong idea of self-care practice as a self-center exercise, it’s far from that.”
