  The interest in studying heavy-flavor hadronization in high-energy nuclear
collisions is twofold. On one hand hadronization represents a source of
systematic uncertainties in phenomenological attempts of extracting
heavy-flavor transport coefficients in the Quark Gluon Plasma which one assumes
to be produced in the collision. Hence, developing the most possible reliable
model for this process is important to get a precise and accurate estimate of a
fundamental property of hot QCD. On the other hand studying how hadronization
changes in the presence of a dense medium of colored partons can be considered
an issue of interest by itself. In particular, the observation of modifications
of heavy-flavor hadronization in proton-proton collisions strongly suggests
that also in this case a small droplet of Quark-Gluon Plasma can be formed.
Here we try to provide a general overview on heavy-flavor hadronization, from
pp to AA collisions, stressing the aspects and challenges common to all
mechanisms proposed in the literature. Then, focusing on a particular model, we
show how a consistent description of several observables involving heavy-flavor
hadrons can be obtained

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;High Energy Physics - Experiment;Nuclear Experiment;Nuclear Theory