The legend of Tre Sorelle is one of the most famous stories from the Bay of Kotor. It tells the tragic tale of three sisters who gave all the love in their hearts to the same man.
According to the legend, three young sisters – Fiomena, Graziana and Rina (believed to have belonged to the noble Buća family) fell in love with a young sea captain named Jerko Novanjanin. In some historical records their names are also mentioned as Nera, Bianca and Rosa.
Jerko, a sailor from Herceg Novi with a restless spirit, could not decide which of the sisters he loved the most. In order to make up his mind, he decided to set sail on a long voyage. Before leaving, he promised that upon his return he would marry the sister who waited for him.
The sisters waited patiently for years. Each day they stood by their windows, watching the sea and every passing ship in the Bay of Kotor, hoping that one of them would bring Captain Jerko back.
They made a pact: when one of them died, the remaining sisters would wall up her window. In this way, if Jerko ever returned, he would know that the sister whose window was sealed no longer waited for him.
Time passed and their youth slowly faded. When the eldest sister died, the other two bricked up her window. Later the second sister also passed away, still waiting for her sailor. With tears in her eyes, the last sister sealed that window as well.
When the youngest sister finally died, there was no one left to close her window. That window remained open forever.
Captain Jerko never returned.
In Prčanj, a small town near Kotor, there is still a palace with two sealed windows and one open window. Locals call it Tre Sorelle – The Three Sisters.
The Tre Sorelle Palace dates back to the 15th century and is one of the rare examples of Gothic architecture in the Bay of Kotor. Today it stands not only as an architectural monument, but also as a symbol of one of the most touching love legends of the Boka Kotorska region.
