I know that wearing a baseball hat is somthing only Americans do, but what would a middleaged Italian man wear to protect his balding head from the summer sun. Laugh, you young-uns, but is it a problem!

I love a man in a hat!

A straw Fedora is far more elegant that a baseball cap. Check this site out:

http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/page/H/CTGY/sfed

Resist the temptation to buy a "safari" hat (e.g: Tilley hat) unless you are on safari in Africa.

"I know that wearing a baseball hat is somthing only Americans do,'

I've found that not to be true.

I agree with degas...I've seen more than one European wearing an American baseball cap.

Sometimes function has to come before form. I am not balding, but due to my upbringing in Africa, I have already had one benign tumour removed from my forehead. I wear a soft crushable cloth hat with brim. Naysayers can mock me all they want. I want to live to visit Europe again next year.

I like the porkpie hat that Brad Pitt wears. I think baseball caps look ok on youngish men but not on older, shall we say mature men. I have never seen a mature Italian in a baseball cap.

Fedoras look classy too.

There are so many COOL hats around now for men, almost a mini-renaissance of hat-wearing (maybe because of all the shaved heads and nearly shaved - that sun is a real issue). Look around for something straw or whatever - cotton.

Darn, you remind me that I saw a really groovy (that's the word!) hat today in a rollable, crushable black straw - or straw-like - that was a size too small. Otherwise it would be mine ... made by Penquin, by the way, an old fashioned sportswear label that's hip again.

PenGuin, for the record, like the little tap dancing birds.

Western European men simply wear hats - any kind of hat, any time of the year - an awful lot less often than Americans.

Oddly, I've always noticed that Italians are a lot more likely to wear hats in the winter than, say, the British or French. And the stuff in those hatters' you still see in parts of Milan all strikes me as mostly for winter.

But in the summer - now you mention it, the only Italians I've noticed in hats are policemen and railway staff.

Most of the kids here wear baseball caps, and many older ones too. They come in all colours and designs; mostly made in China....

>>>>>
I know that wearing a baseball hat is somthing only Americans do,
>>>>>

simply not true. walk around europe and you will see all kinds of 'baseball' hats....NY, FBI, Boston red sox, formula 1 racing teams, etc, etc, etc.

you can burn your bald spot and risk cancer by trying to look like your assumed version of european or you can cover up with a hat and be comfortable. your choice.

I have a Sherlock Holmes Hat that I use to keep the media at bay when I jet over to London.

Mr. Cupid loves his classy straw fedoras for summer at home but took a ballcap with him to Italy last time as backup simply because it was easy to pack and stuff in a pocket when not in use (churches, restaurants, etc.)

Lots of Europeans wear ballcaps, so don't worry about it. Men worldwide (as opposed to boys) wear them properly, brim to the front.

There is a hat store (capella?) in many cities and having them select proper headwear for you is a fantastic experience. You might keep an eye peeled for one...

degas: I trust you also carry a Calabash pipe (not tobacco, of course), just to complete the overall look!

Sunblock?

Don't mind if I do, Wombat. Beach towel?