from Voyage dans la Belgique, la Hollande et l'Italie... par André Thouin, 1841

Avant d'arriver à Plaisance, on passe le Po sur un pont de bateaux ètabli par l'armée française. Le fleuve en cet endroit est plus large que la Seine à Paris; il coule presque sous le murs de la ville, qui se présente d'une manière agréable. Quelques-unes des rues de Plaisance sont grandes et bordées d'assez belles maisons; les autres son étroites, tortueuses, avec des bàtiments très-bas et des boutiques obscures. Le pavé de toutes ces rues, formé de cailloux roulés, offre un marcher difficile... Cette ville est remplie d'églises, de couvents et de chapelles surchargés de mauvaises sculptures. Mais dans la cathédrale, ancien édifice gothique, ont remarque de belles peintures à fresque et de bons tableaux. ... Fréquemment on rencontre dans les rues de vastes maisons dont les portes et les fenètres sont ornées de sculptures bizarres, d'autres décorées de différents ordres d'architecture peinte à fresque. Parmi ces dernières décorations, il s'en trouve quelquefois d'assez bonnes, parce que la peinture a toujours été supérieure à la sculpture dans ce pays. La noblesse et le gens riches étalent un grand faste, beaucoup d'hòtels, de voitures, de domestiques à livrée, des coureurs mème devant les carrosses. En revanche, le nombre des mendiants est immense; ils vous assiègent aux portes de èglises, dans les rues, jusque dans les cafés. ... Les boutiques des fruitiers abondent en fruits de toute espèce. Le boulevard qui entoure la ville est planté de mùriers dans presque toute sa circonférence. S'il était mieux entretenu, il serait très-agréable, car il domine sur une riche campagne.

from Travels Through the Low Countries by John Ray, 1738

Proceeding on still twelve miles (after crossing river Arta, sic), we came to Piacenza, a city, for bigness not inferior to Parma, and for strenght superior (being well walled and trenched about, and having a strong citadel) but not so handsome and well built.

from Reminiscences of an English Cadet in the Austrian Service 1848-c 1854

One of the things we liked best while stationed at Cremona was to get a short leave of absence to go to Piacenza ; and that fair city well deserved its name, for it was, in truth, a city of pleasures and delights. My first visit there really arose from my having nothing else to do. One evening the opera was, for some reason or other, closed at Cremona, and we found the cafe somewhat dull. The captain second in command, to whom I have alluded, lived in the same quarters as myself ; I had given up my rooms to our servants, and we shared everything together. "Was thun wir ? Kumm mit, gehen wir zu Hause" — ("What shall we do ? Come, let us go home") — he said to me. I consented, for I saw he had something in his head, and as we walked together, he asked, "Bist Du im Piacenz gewesen, Engländer?" — ("Wert thou ever in Piacenza, Englishman ?") I replied in the negative. "So ?" he answered, and then told me that there was an opera there, and that we could go to Piacenza, and be back in time for morning parade. It was then 7 P.M., and there were twenty- five good miles to ride and the same distance to return, but the idea of the adventure charmed me, and in less than ten minutes we were in our saddles, preparing for une nuit blanche. My friend knew the road well, and after a little more than two hours and a half of hard galloping we entered the city, stabled our horses, which, contrary to our fears, were not too much knocked up to take kindly to their food, and finding the principal café empty we turned our steps- at once to the opera. At the door we discovered at the same instant that we had neither of us so much as a single kreutzer in our pockets, and could not, of course, obtain seats. We walked round the building, trusting to light on some of our comrades, and while doing so perceived a small door, which we pushed open. It led, apparently, to the lower regions, and we determined to explore a little.
We groped our way cautiously along several damp, dark passages, always descending somewhat, until at length we became aware that we were under the stage, for at a distance we could see a light, and a pair of legs, which we felt sure belonged to the prompter, while above we heard the crash of music and the applause of the audience. They were performing the opera of Robert Devereux. Just then I stumbled, and came with a dreadful clanking of sword and spur to the ground. We stood silently for a little, but by the profound quiet around us, and the sound of the singers' voices, and the answering murmur of the spectators, we concluded that we wore alone in this subterranean region. " Stay, Engländer," said my friend. " I know exactly where we are now, and there is a passage by which we could enter the pit easily if only the attention of every one could be diverted for the moment. An idea comes to mo, which we will quickly execute. Draw thy sword, and follow me softly." We proceeded cautiously until we arrived at the aforesaid pair of legs, on each side of -which we arranged ourselves; then my friend pricked the leg nearest to him gently with his sword point, which produced from above a curious yell, not at all in harmony with the music. I caught a glimpse of an arm descending on the opposite side, and to counteract the movement, I also, with the utmost delicacy, pricked the leg next to me. This caused another screech, and a tremendous scuffling, as of many feet rushing to and fro over the boards.
Now or never, we thought, and immediately applied our swords' points to both legs at the same instant. The prompter uttered an unearthly scream, greatly resembling that of a wild cat ; the legs flew upwards, out of the reach of our persecution ; the tumult above redoubled ; and we hastily decamped, ran along one of the little passages which communicated with the boxes, with which my friend was acquainted, and having entered perfectly unnoticed, we walked with an innocent and unconcerned air to the place reserved for the officers. We could not help being diverted with the scene which presented itself. The whole theatre was in a state of excitement and uproar, such as only those who know the easily-moved, impetuous, effervescent nature of the Italians, can understand. The orchestra was dumb; at least half of the people from the pit and lower boxes had leapt upon the stage ; the actors, every employé about the place, and all the ladies of the corps de ballet, in full costume, had likewise rushed thither. In the middle of them the prompter was hopping about, with both his hands applied to the calves of his legs ; every one was gesticulating, shouting, and asking what was the matter. Some imagined the man was attacked by a sudden fit of madness and would have laid violent hands on him, and to elude their kindly grasp he crouched, dived, and darted here and there in the oddest conceivable way, screaming out as he did so that il diavolo was below, and calling on all the saints to help and aid him. When comparative calm was restored a rigid search was made below, but, of course, nothing was discovered ; his legs were stripped and carefully examined in the presence of the gendarmes, but as there were neither wounds nor blood, and only one little scratch, which, I beg to say. was not on the leg which fate had given into my care, the assault was generally supposed to have been made by some playful kitten which had endeavoured to ascend to the upper regions by using the prompter's legs for a ladder, and no further inquiry was made. That night we supped joyously with our brother officers, but mindful of the consequences which we had formerly sustained by babbling tongues, we kept our little adventure rigidly to ourselves, and long before break of dawn we were on our horses, riding hard to reach Cremona before morning parade.

from Voyage de François Vinchant en France et en Italie, du 16 septembre 1609 au 18 février 1610

Un mil passé, l'on entre en la ville de Plaisance, laquelle, avant y entrer, elle se descouvre de long belle et jolie, à cause du nombre des tourrettes et flèches d'églises. Aussi est-elle située en un plat-pais...En ceste ville se retrouve grand nombre de gentishommes qui se disent nobles, et s'appellent communément comtes, encore qu'ilz n'aient grand revenus. La cause est d'autant que la plus part descendent de leurs père ou grand père qui estoit comte. C'est ainsi que les puisnés et routuriers de France et Allemaigne s'appellent, encore que l'aisné seul porte le tiltre particulièrment. Ceste noblesse est forte courtoise, mais fort adonnée à la vanité.

from Viaje a Italia de Leandro Fernandez de Moratin, 1795

Llego el 28 (de marzo) a Plasencia. Algunas calles largas y anchas, piso llano, caserones grandes pero ningun edificio de consideracion. En la plaza hay dos estatuas ecuestres... ambas estan llenas de fuego y expresion... (y) hacen muy bello efecto en el paraje en que estan... Vi mucha clerecia por la ciudad, y muchos mendigos. Digase de paso, en honor de la verdad, que los soldados que hallé asi en Plasencia como en Parma, tenian muy buena traza: altos, bien dispuestos, bien vestidos, en nada semejantes a la tropa del capitan Giraldi.

from Pájinas de mi diario durante tres años de viajes de Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, 1854

El 12 de mayo partimos para Plasencia donde pasamos la noche. Recorrimos por la tarde la ciudad i me pareciò mas agradable que las que habia visitado en mi marcha desde Bolonia. He aqui muchos palacios cuyo patio principal cerrado en el fondo por un paño de zinc pintado con paisajes i perspectivas ofrece a los transeuntes un variado y curioso espectaculo al pasar por las puertas de calle... El ciceroni que nos acompañaba nos referia muchas anecdotas recientes, como asesinatos i duelos, entre los nobles de Plasencia i los oficiales de la Guarnicion austriaca. Estos son los episodios de esta triste historia moderna de la Italia!

from De Madrid a Nápoles ... de Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, 1860

De Parma a Alejandria todo fue perfectamente. Crucé a la vista de Plasencia (Piacenza), triste y solitaria capital de otro antiguo ducado...

from New Italian sketches by John Addington Symonds, 1884

The great feature of Piacenza is its famous piazza--a romantically, picturesquely perfect square, surpassing the most daring attempts of the scene-painter, and realizing a poet's dreams. The space is considerable, and many streets converge upon it at irregular angles. Its finest architectural feature is the antique Palace of the Commune: Gothic arcades of stone below, surmounted by a brick building with wonderfully delicate and varied terra-cotta work in the round-arched windows. Before this facade, on the marble pavement, prance the bronze equestrian statues of two Farnesi--insignificant men, exaggerated horses, flying drapery--as barocco as it is possible to be in style, but so splendidly toned with verdigris, so superb in their bravura attitude, and so happily placed in the line of two streets lending far vistas from the square into the town beyond, that it is difficult to criticise them seriously. They form, indeed, an important element in the pictorial effect, and enhance the terra-cotta work of the facade, by the
contrast of their color.
The time to see this square is in evening twilight--that wonderful hour after sunset--when the people are strolling on the pavement, polished to a mirror by the pacing of successive centuries, and when the cavalry soldiers group themselves at the angles under the lamp-posts or beneath
the dimly lighted Gothic arches of the palace. This is the magical mellow hour to be sought by lovers of the picturesque in all the towns of Italy, the hour which, by its tender blendings of sallow western lights with glimmering lamps, casts the veil of half-shadow over any crudeness and restores the injuries of time; the hour when all the tints of these old buildings are intensified, etherealized, and harmonized by one pervasive glow. When I last saw Piacenza, it had been raining all day; and ere sun-down a clearing had come from the Alps, followed by fresh threatenings of thunderstorms. The air was very liquid. There was a tract of yellow sunset sky to westward, a faint new moon half swathed in mist above, and over all the north a huge towered thunder-cloud kept flashing distant lightnings. The pallid primrose of the West, forced down and reflected back from the vast bank of tempest, gave unearthly beauty to the hues of church and palace--tender half-tones of violet and russet paling into grays and yellows on what in daylight seemed but dull red brick. Even the uncompromising facade of St. Francesco helped; and the dukes were like statues of the "Gran Commendatore," waiting for Don Giovanni's invitation.

from After Waterloo, Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 by major William Edward Frye

The next morning at eleven o'clock we arrived at Piacenza on the Po, and were detained a quarter of an hour at the Douane of Her Majesty the Archduchess, as Maria Louisa, the present Duchess of Parma, is stiled, we being now arrived in her dominions. We drove to the Hotel di San Marco, which is close to the Piazza Grande, and alighted there. On the Piazza stands the Hotel de Ville, and in front of it are two equestrian statues in bronze of the Princes Farnesi; the statues, however, of the riders appear much too small in proportion with the horses, and they resemble two little boys mounted on Lincolnshire carthorses. I did not visit the churches and palaces in this city from not having time and, besides, I did not feel myself inclined or bound (as some travellers think themselves) to visit every church and every town in Italy. I really believe the ciceroni think that we Ultramontani live in mud hovels in our own country, and that we have never seen a stone edifice, till our arrival in Italy, for every town house which is not a shop is termed a palazzo, and they would conduct you to see all of them if you would be guided by them. I had an opportunity, during the two hours we halted here, of walking over the greater part of the city, after a hasty breakfast.
Piacenza is a large handsome city; among the females that I saw in the streets the Spanish costume seems very prevalent, no doubt from being so long governed by a Spanish family.

from The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc, 1902

And so in Piacenza it rained and there was mud, till I came to a hotel called the Moor's Head, in a very narrow street, and entering it I discovered a curious thing: the Italians live in palaces: I might have known it. They are the impoverished heirs of a great time; its garments cling to them, but their rooms are too large for the modern penury. I found these men eating in a great corridor, in a hall, as they might do in a palace. I found high, painted ceilings and many things of marble, a vast kitchen, and all the apparatus of the great houses--at the service of a handful of contented, unknown men. So in England, when we have worked out our full fate, happier but poorer men will sit in the faded country-houses (a community, or an inn, or impoverished squires), and rough food will be eaten under mouldering great pictures, and there will be offices or granaries in the galleries of our castles; and where Lord Saxonthorpe (whose real name is Hauptstein) now plans our policy, common Englishmen will return to the simpler life, and there will be dogs, and beer, and catches upon winter evenings. For Italy also once gathered by artifice the wealth that was not of her making.
He was a good man, the innkeeper of this palace. He warmed me at his fire in his enormous kitchen, and I drank Malaga to the health of the cooks. I ate of their food, I bought a bottle of a new kind of sweet wine called 'Vino Dolce', and--I took the road.
LECTOR. And did you see nothing of Piacenza?
AUCTOR. Nothing, Lector; it was raining, and there was mud. I stood in front of the cathedral on my way out, and watched it rain. It rained all along the broad and splendid Emilian Way.

from Journal du voyage de Michel de Montaigne en Italie ... par Michel de Montaigne, 1580/1581

Plaisance, vingt milles: Ville fort grande. Comme j'y arrivai bien avant la nuit, j'en fis le tour de tous cotés pendant trois heures. Les rues font fangeuses, & non pavées; les maisons petites. Sur la place, qui fait principalement sa grandeur, est le Palais de la Justice, avec les prisons; c'est-là que se rassemblent tous les Citoyens. Les environs sont garnis de boutiques de peu de valeur. Je vis le Chateau qui est entre les mains du Roi Philippe. Sa garnison est composée de trois cens soldats Espagnols mal payés, à ce qu'ils me dirent eux-memes. On sonne la Diane matin & soir pendant une heure, avec les instrumens que nous appellons hautbois, & eux siffres. Il y a là dedans beaucoup de monde, & de belles pieces d'artillerie. Le Duc de Parme qui étoit alors dans la Ville ne va jamais dans le Chateau que tient le Roi d'Espagne; il a son logement à part dans la Citadelle, qui est un autre Chateau situé ailleurs. Enfin, je n'y vis rien de remarquable, sinon le nouveau batiment de Saint-Augustin que le Roi Philippe a fait construire à la place d'une autre Eglise de Saint-Augustin, dont il s'est servi pour la construction de ce Chateau, en retenant une partie de ses revenus.

from Voyage historique, chorographique et philosophique ... par Philippe Petit-Radel, 1811/1812

Plaisance, aujourd'hui siége d'une préfecture et d'un éveché, est un très-grande ville, fortifiée, bien percée et très-salubre; elle est dans une plain fort riante, au sud sud-est et sur la rive droite du Po dont elle n'est séparée que par quelques prairies et des plantations d'environ un demi-mille. Une ville intérieure ne peut se présenter en Italie avec une plus belle apparence; mais, pour plaire, comme le demande son nom, il lui faudrait une plus grande population; elle pourrait sans contredit contenir cinquante mille habitans, et à peine en a-t-elle douze... Les objets à voir à Plaisance ne sont pas nombreux, cependant on peut mentionner la grande place.

from Letters from Italy, in the Years 1754 and 1755 by John Boyle 5th earl of Corke and Orrery

Our next step was to Placentia. On viewing these small towns, it is mortifying thought to consider, what vast treasures have been expended by England to secure the property, and ascertain the rights of those princes, to whom these territories belong. What must be said to comfort us upon these reflections? The best resource is Mr. Pope's assertion, "whatever is, is right." A compendious method of solving every thing that happens "wrong" in this uncertain state. As soon as the gate were opened, we hastened from Placentia, and dined at Parma...

from a letter of Thomas Gray To His Mother, Bologna, Dec. 9, N.S. 1739

...the morning after (we) came to Piacenza. That city (though the capital of a duchy), made so frippery an appearance, that instead of spending some days there, as had been intended, we only dined, and went on to Parma.

Extracts from the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry from the Year ... - by Mary Berry (1783), 1866

Two miles from Piacenza, the Trebia is crossed in a boat. The water was considerably swelled by the quantity of rain that had fallen, and crossing rivers is always troublesome; the boats are small and bad, the boatmen awkward, and the postilions noisy and quarrelsome. Piacenza is a great half-inhabited-looking town; the streets are tolerably wide and in general straight, but consisting of mean irregular houses, interspersed with the long dead walls of monasteries, and here and there a palace going to decay.

from Italy in transition: public scenes and private opinions in 1860 by William Arthur ,1860

For a long time the lamps at the gate of Piacenza gleamed across the plain, as we slowly and wearily made our way to the banks of the Po; then we came upon a great bridge of boats, loosely put together, to replace the one which the Austrians had destroyed. The river is immensely broad. We passed through ruins upon ruins of fortifications demolished by the Austrians; then by a huge building, like some two or three greatest Manchester warehouses piled together, which we understood was a barrack; finally through a narrow and dirty street into the hotel. Here we found an odd combination of grandeur, kindness, and dirt. The latter is a very tolerable thing for a well seasoned traveller, as long as it continues inanimate;... The name Piacenza means "charm, grace, pleasantness," &c. ... for the city itself, if one must tell the truth in plain words, it is flat and dirty, without fine buildings or pleasant walks.

from Voyage pittoresque en Italie: partie septentrionale par Paul de Musset, 1855

...Plaisance, qu'on prendrait, au premier coup d'oeil, pour une grande place de guerre, à cause de ses bastions, et au second, pour une ville depeuplée. Une fois qu'on a franchi l'enceinte et les fossés, Plaisance prend un aspect moins sombre, et l'on comprend que son nom ait pu lui venir du mot plaire, comme l'assurent les Italiens. A l'exception du Corso, les rues ne sont pas fort larges. La plus belle place est celle dei Cavalli, sur laquelle on voit deux statues équestres en bronze des ducs Farnès, et les façades de trois grands palais. L'un d'eux, le palais Comunale, date du treizième siècle. Au-dessous de l'horloge, les phases de la lune sont marquées par un globe tournant... On parle à Plaisance un dialecte dur et disgracieux, proche parent du milanais. La lettre u, les diphtongues on et eu se prononcent à la française, mais avec plus d'exagération.

from Pictures from Italy ... By Charles Dickens, 1846

A brown, decayed, old town, Piacenza is. A deserted, solitary, grass-grown place, with ruined ramparts; half filled-up trenches, which afford a frowsy pasturage to lean kine that wander about them; and streets of stern houses, moodily frowning at the other houses over the way. The sleepiest and shabbiest of soldiery go wandering about, with the double curse of laziness and poverty, uncouthly wrinkling their misfitting regimentals; the dirtiest of children play with their impromptu toys (pigs and mud) in the feeblest gutters; and the gauntest of dogs trot in and out of the dullest archways, in perpetual search of something to eat, which they never seem to find. A mysterious and solemn Palace, guarded by two colossal statues, twin Genii of the place, stands gravely in the midst of the idle town; and the king with the marble legs, who flourished in the time of the thousand and one Nights, might live contentedly inside of it, and never have the energy, in his upper half of flesh and blood, to want to come out. What a strange, half-sorrowful and half-delicious doze it is, to ramble through these places gone to sleep and basking in the sun! Each, in its turn, appears to be, of all the mouldy, dreary, God-forgotten towns in the wide world, the chief. Sitting on this hillock where a bastion used to be, and where a noisy fortress was, in the time of the old Roman station here, I become aware that I have never known till now, what it is to be lazy. A dormouse must surely be in very much the same condition before he retires under the wool in his cage; or a tortoise before he buries himself. I feel that I am getting rusty. That any attempt to think, would be accompanied with a cracking noise. That there is nothing, anywhere, to be done, or needing to be done. That there is no more human progress, motion, effort, or advancement, of any kind beyond this. That the whole scheme stopped here centuries ago, and lay down to rest until the Day of Judgement. Never while the Brave Courrier lives! Behold him jingling out of Piacenza, and staggering this way, in the tallest posting-chaise ever seen, so that he looks out of the front window as if he were peeping over a garden wall; while the postilion, concentrated essence of all the shabbiness of Italy, pauses for a moment in his animated conversation, to touch his hat to a blunt-nosed little Virgin, hardly less shabby than himself, enshrined in a plaster Punch's show outside the town.

from A Ride on Horseback to Florence Through France and Switzerland by Augusta Macgregor Holmes - october 1842

At last, Piacenza was in sight; the dark red city rising on the broad plain beyond the broad Po, with the stone arch, the relic of a Roman bridge, standing in its centre, on the deposit of sand and stones; and the two bridges of boats which we were to cross, and which should be a relic also, being extremely unsafe, the boats small, and the decaying planks they sustain a succession of hill and dale, over which our horses feared to advance. The toll is five sous per steed, which, considering its state, is sufficient.

Having ridden in safety, but some dread, across this uneven and trembling bridge, we left our passport at the gate, and the douaniers came smilingly forward. "What is in this valise ?" "Linen." "And in this ?" "Linen also; will you look at it ?" The douanier smiled, and shook his head, but made an almost imperceptible sign of thirst, and D--- gave a silver coin to satisfy it. There is a frankness about this conduct which is exceedingly agreeable. One is sure of giving in the right place, and without offence, and also of saving trouble at small cost, for it happened that the only change we possessed was an Austrian lira, which translated, means seventeen sous, three centimes; and though we were almost ashamed to offer it, it seemed to content the custom-house officer perfectly.

The sombre streets of this saddest of towns led us to San Marco, an inn neither good nor bad, though certainly better than its Milan namesake, and having fine rooms and broad staircase, which common cleanliness would make objects of admiration. Our sleeping chamber with its dome is of such elegant form that I should like to transport it afar, but spoiled with gaudy frescoes on wall and ceiling, by dirty floor, and ragged furniture. The eating room, a noble hall, with a range of pillars down its centre, and hung round with paintings for sale - some few good, several curious; luxury and poverty, dirt and elegance, everywhere blended - even in the yard, which is an abomination, yet where a coved trellis-work forms a roof which a splendid vine covers with its thick leaves, making the lovliest of ceilings.

We walked to the cathedral - a dark red heavy building, built almost entirely of brick... The church is large without being handsome... We were driven from the cathedral by two or three guides, who, next to beggars, persecute strangers in Italy, following with a pertinacity which defies repulse, forcing on you a new version of history, and concluding each sentence by saying, with extended hand, "Le sue buone grazie." ... On the whole, though we made the tour of all the other churches we found open, and wandered till we were weary among the desolate streets, the day we passed at Placentia seemed a long one. When night closed in, the silent town awoke, and parties walked up and down, singing with most enchanting voices: it is a pleasure peculiar to Italy.

Piacenza received her name, in days of yore, from her pleasant environs, - now so changed that she requires new baptism...

from The Idler in Italy by Marguerite countess of Blessington Lawrence, 1839

This is a cheerful though not a fine town, and the country around it is fertile and smiling.

from Excursions in Italy By James Fenimore Cooper, 1838

Towards evening we discerned the towers of a town in the visible horizon, and soon after came to the side of a sluggish stream of some size, lying low between banks that it sometimes evidently filled. The town was on the opposite side, walled, and not immediatly on the stream. The river was the Po, which we crossed by a bridge of boats, and, making a little circuit, we drove through a gateway and entered Piacenza. Ordering dinner, I walked out to look at the place, which contains more than 25,000 inhabitants. It is gloomy, crowded, and dull. Indeed, it is not easy to see how so many towns of this size are kept up on so small a surface. There does not appear to be any commerce worth mentioning; the manufacturers are usually on a small scale, and half the people seem idle. There is a small palace belonging to the sovereign, of tolerable architecture. It has fifteen windows in front, while that of the governor of the place has thirteen. I believe the White House has less than either of these; though Piacenza is merely a provincial town... This town and its walls are principally constructed of bricks: an unusual thing on the continent of Europe. The walls seem going to decay. In the evening I strolled into the great square, which I found thronged with people. These towns are so cramped within their fortifications, that walking, except in an area like this, or on the ramparts, is almost out of question; and as they all have a place d'armes, the people have acquired the habit of resorting thither for air and exercise. There was a silent, gloomy crowd in the square; and as many of the men wore cloaks and were smoking, it reminded me of Spain, a country whose habits may very well have been introduced through the princes. In speaking of the size of the palace, I ought to have mentioned that Piacenza was once a separate duchy; to which circumstance it probably owes that structure.