Italian People Culture: Montappone and the Straw Hats

Discover Italian people culture. Read about the story of Montappone straw hats and how a rural community turned straw into gold.

The people of Montappone, using modest resources but endless ingenuity, first made their village a manufacture center of straw hats and then, following the best Italian culture traditions, turned it into a fashionable hat making center.

Once upon a time in the village of Montappone lived a wise king with his beautiful daughter.

A young farmer fell in love with the girl and asked the king to marry her but he was poor and didn’t have anything to offer to fashion a crown worth of a king’s daughter.

The wise king told the boy to look closely at the riches he had instead of thinking about the wealth he was missing.

The boy took his way home thinking about the king’s words.

He was walking along a field and he picked up three ears of wheat and mindlessly let the seeds drop to the ground, immediately three birds picked them up and flew away interweaving their flights in the sky.

The boy understood then the king’s words and worked all night to weave a crown made of straw and embellished with a border to protect the face of his lover from the sun and rain.

The king appreciated the creativity and initiative of the young farmer and gave his consent to the marriage.

The story tells that from that day on all the inhabitants of Montappone started weaving straw hats hoping for the same good luck of the farmer boy.

I don’t know which one came first, the hats or the legend and how much truth is in this story but certainly the people of Montappone are working hard at making their fortune with hats.

It is one of the surprising and interesting facts on Italy that this obscure village makes half of Europe’s hats and most of the Italian production and has been manufacturing high quality hats since the 17th century.

If you are a hat aficionado, Montappone is the place to visit.

Every year at the end of July and in December is held in this village a hat festival that celebrates Italian people culture and the hat making traditions.

During the fair the companies sell to the public and the village is filled with exhibits, music and dances.

The fair includes an exhibition of historic headgear from the great hat museums in Europe, storytellers, folk singers, fancy dining and, to conclude this three days celebration of Italian people culture, an amazing music and firework show.

The show takes place in the village square and we found ourselves literally in the middle of it, with fireworks over our heads and music all around us.

It was a stunning performance and the Montappone people were very proud of it. At the end of the show, an old lady from the village politely asked me if we were planning to come next year and she nodded contentedly to my affirmative answer.

The local people were also happy to show us all the steps of hat making and were patient enough to teach us to weave straw and let us take pictures.

The warmth of the people of Montappone and the quality of their hat production, the exhibitions and shows make of this festival and event you shouldn’t miss in your Italian holiday in Le Marche region.

Watch this fun video about Montappone and Italian people culture.

Although there are not many hat factory outlets that sell directly to the public, most factories will be happy to open their doors to visitors and give a guided tour if called in advance. Click here for a list of some of the hat factories and their contact info.

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