Ah, Borsalino! The hat of hats, the headwear of stars! It's a name long familiar to gourmets of fine hats around the world, but today, is almost invisible in the USA. And these days, not everyone will jump at the chance to spend several hundred dollars on a fedora.

Nonetheless, Borsalino has been an icon of the Italian fashion market for 160 years and has deep roots in the art, design, movie and theater worlds. Wide-brim Borsalinos are also standard apparel for many Orthodox Jews who consider head coverings a sign of peity. In short, the name is a magic one and well worth exploring. So here we go.