SAILORS FROM PRCANJ ( PERZAGNO ) AND THEIR ECONOMIC POWER
Prcanj sailors from early 15th century demonstrate the town ’ s tremendous skillfulness at the sea , witnessed by state Venetian captains . Maritime trade was very active and successful and made a lot of families from Prcanj exceptionally rich ( for example , the Beskuca family owns 99 houses in the Bay of Kotor and overseas ). Maritime trade flourished during 16th and 18th century ; the ships owned by people from Prcanj grew in size and number so that by the end of the 18th century , Prcanj was a home port for 98 overseas ships .
Prcanj ’ s wealthiest sea captains ’ families names were : Lukovic , Gjurovic , Sbutega , Lazzari , Mihnic , Florio , Verona , Milin , Petkic , Raffaeili , Beskuca , Marassi . Many of them had their trade houses and family residences in Venice , Trieste , Corfu , Thebes , Corinto , Alessandria , Algeri , etc . Among their most common merchandise were Montenegrin and Greek cheese , Dalmatian vine , oil candles , salted sardines , dry meat , dry figs , Dalmatian and Greek olive oil , and silk . Their most frequent ports of call were - apart from the eastern Mediterranean ones - Ancona , Bari , Brindisi , Venice , and Trieste . The success of maritime trade was so immense for Prcanj that by the end of 17th century it had overpassed , in economic terms , the medieval town of Kotor ( Cattaro in Italian ), which had often helped them giving money and manual labour in times of crisis . After the catastrophic earthquake of 1667 , by which Kotor was almost completely destroyed , Prcanj ’ s sailors and shipowners volunteerely helped repairing the destroyed town with money and labour , even providing free transport of goods on their ships .
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