The origins of the club are poignant. At one time Piobicco had 128 unwed women so Iacobelli formed a marriage agency to try to find them husbands. A common problem was the presumption of being unattractive so Iacobelli set out to champion the cause. He took his cue from an earlier club in Piobicco that dates from 1879 that also had an interest in ugliness.

Roberta Iacobelli, the president's daughter, puts her father's work in perspective. "We can't have beauty without something to compare it to. The idea of beauty only exists because there is a contrast. In some tribal societies the beautiful women were horrendous by our standards, so it's relative, isn't it?"

A proud father drapes his arm around his protégé and proclaims, "I want the tree of ugliness to spread its branches all over the world."

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