Coppola cap

The coppola (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkɔppola]) is a traditional kind of flat cap typically worn in Sicily, Campania and Calabria, where is it known as còppula or birritta, and also seen in Malta, Greece (where it is known as tragiáska, Greek: τραγιάσκα), some territories in Turkey, Corsica, and Sardinia (where it came to be known, in the local language, as berritta, cicía, and bonete or bonetu,[1] possibly from the Latin abonnis).

One popular theory of the coppola is that it originates in England, where the tradition of civil caps has been found at least since the late 16th century during the reign of the Tudors, when on Sundays and on holidays all males over six years old – with the exception of nobles and high-ranking people – had to wear woolen headdresses produced only and exclusively in England: so, in fact, it provided for an act of parliament of 1571, the short purpose of which was to support the domestic production of wool, thus protecting it from the import of foreign goods.

Outsiders across the Country, as it may be, carried their costumes and clothing with them, including the flat cap, which, in a spirit of emulation, was adopted by the Sicilian people themselves as an integral part of their way of dressing.

[6] However they had in a later stage lost popularity to the coppola, which has become a cornerstone of Sicilian Culture, not a simple import cap but a real symbol of belonging to the island's community and its traditions.

However plausible, this historical reconstruction is not entirely certain and the English origin remains doubtful: the use of the term coppola throughout history is not explained above all, a word that boasts a long tradition in southern Italy and that has been in use since before the 19th century, as evidenced by some ancient writings.