Raffaello Bettini has represented Italian excellence in the handcrafted hat-making industry since 1938. The company’s history reads like a captivating family saga, spanning over a century, touching opposite continents, and serving as a unique example of the blending of tradition and innovation.
Giovanni Papini, currently at the helm of the company, is the guardian of an industrial legacy that traces back to the Oreste Cinelli hat factory, founded in Signa in 1886. It quickly became one of Tuscany’s and Italy’s most important production centers for straw and hat-making. This was made possible thanks to the vision of Raffaello Bettini, Giovanni’s grandfather and Oreste’s grandson, who pioneered the opening of a Cinelli branch in Puerto Rico in 1932. After the company closed in 1938, he founded his own business, where his daughter Giovanna would later join. Here, she met Primo Papini, who would become her husband and Raffaello’s business partner from the very beginning.
Another key figure in this fascinating story is Alessandra Fantacci, Giovanni’s wife since 1977 and the true stylistic heart and driving force of the company. She too inherited a centuries-old tradition as the granddaughter of Carlo Fantacci, who succeeded in managing another famous and historic hat factory in Signa, “Felice Marinesi & Co,” founded in 1875. It seems that the family’s destiny was always to carry forward the artisanal tradition of Signa’s straw weaving.
A true success story, the company has grown over the years with the export of its products to major international markets, the introduction of a line of hand-knitted knitwear, and the eventual launch of a women’s hats and accessories line under the “Raffaello Bettini” brand.
Since 2017, with the arrival of the fourth generation represented by Giovanni and Alessandra’s son, Pietro, the company has found a way to renew itself and look to the future. However, it continues to draw inspiration from its past, reinterpreting it with the aim of preserving the excellence, quality, and craftsmanship of each of its products.
