Ah! Beauty!
The gift of the gods to their subjects, inspiration to literature, poetry and art of all forms and colors. Its canons may change from decade to decade, but its essence remains the same, lifeblood of human creativity and emotions.
And ugliness? Well, ugliness deserves some attention, too: if it’s true that every force needs an opposite to exist, then we can thank the ugly for the beautiful, in the end. And if we believe the great Umberto Eco, who dedicated an excellent book to the philosophy and meaning of ugliness, there is a lot we can understand about humankind by looking at the way it deals with the visually unappealing.
Without a doubt, the people of Piobbico, a quaint village in the Pesaro-Urbino province of Marche, central Italy, know a thing or two about i brutti, as it’s been home to the World Association of Ugly People — or Club dei Brutti, to say it in Italian — for over a century. Led by the motto “ugliness is virtue, beauty is slavery” (la bruttezza è ‘na virtù, la bellezza è schiavitù”), the association wants to celebrate diversity and, more than anything, people’s freedom of being themselves, with the certainty that beauty, the real one, is within.
We of L’Italo-Americano had the pleasure of chatting with Benedetta Aluigi, spokesperson of the Club dei Brutti, with whom we learned about its history, its mission and about the beauty and freedom of being … ugly!
The history of the World Association of Ugly People started in 1879: how did it all begin?
That year, the number of spinsters in the village had started to rise so the mayor, the parish priest and some of the local “uglies” decided to create a Club dei Brutti, to collect Piobbico’s single men so that unmarried women could find a husband more easily. So, we can say that, at least initially, the Club was a bit like a dating service!
Around the 1970s, the office of “President of the Ugly” was created and it was the first of our presidents, Telesforo (Lelé) Jacobelli to transform the Club into what’s today: an institution embodiment of the idea of acceptance, but also of local folklore and cheerfulness.
Back then, we had only two TV channels in Italy, but Jacobelli managed to bring the Club on one of the country’s most popular shows, Portobello. After that, the Association began to receive letters of supports and the number of members rose.
Today we are more than 30.000 in the world: registration usually takes place in Piobbico, during the fair we organize for the election of the President of the Ugly, which takes place every year, on the first Sunday of September. On this occasion, all of our registered members can vote, while new ones can get their official card. However, membership cards can be issued by our council’s members any time and any place. We even sent some by post, to people who expressed their wish to become part of our community: all they had to do was to tell us why they were interested and send us a picture.
What’s the true meaning of your Club today?
Our Association is carrier of an increasingly important — fundamental, I would say — message, especially in today’s day and age, bombarded as we are by beauty models to “follow,” and unrealistic aesthetic canons to meet.
Being part of the Club doesn’t mean to be aesthetically unpleasant, nor does it mean to despise yourself. On the contrary, it means to have the heart and the brains to truly value what is really important in a human being, and not only appearance.
Physical beauty is bound to pass and end with time. What needs to be nurtured is the beauty inside us, it’s the acceptance of one another and of what each and every one of us can give to the world. In the Club dei Brutti, there’s plenty of beauty, because we don’t fear ugliness nor do we feel threatened by defects: we play them down, while trying to give relevance to all that makes a person beautiful inside.
Tell us something more about the President of the Ugly…
Our president is, above all, a great communicator and the depositary of the Association’s philosophy. There’s no need to be ugly from an aesthetic point of view, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the spirit with which the soul and heart of the association are carried. The president and the Grand Council meet regularly to organize events and to discuss issues about the association and its members, and to find new ways to broaden our membership, because gaining a different perspective on things from what’s shown to us through the media is, today, more important than ever.
Are there other offices within the association?
Beside the President of the Ugly — currently Giannino Aluigi — who is elected by all the members each year at the beginning of September on occasion of the International Festival of the Ugly, we also elect the Ugliest of Italy, who is chosen by our Grand Council. The Ugliest of Italy embodies outer ugliness, but is always characterized by great inner beauty. We also have the Children’s President, who is elected by the Council every year. The figure has the duty to represent the Association in schools and among the younger generations: it’s a pretty popular position among local kids!
Today, your Association has members from every corner of the world, yet it remains strongly linked to its hometown. Tell us something more about Piobbico.
Piobbico is a small village of about 2000, but it offers so many things to do and see. It’s located in a beautiful area from a naturalistic point of view, just at the feet of Monte Nerone, where you can go trekking, walking, cycling, or even do paragliding and visit caves with professional guides. You can reach the sea and the mountains in about 30 minutes, and in the same time you’ll get to important historical and cultural centers like Urbino, with its Palazzo Ducale.
Piobbico itself is home to a marvelous castle, Castello Brancaleoni, built by the homonymous family. Around it, lies a beautiful medieval borough, in part still inhabited and of great historical interest.
From a gastronomic point of view, Piobbico is part of the tartufo bianco pregiato (white truffle)area, and it’s home to some interesting and renowned culinary realities, like the La Triglia del Bosco blog.
What can you tell us about local traditions?
Piobbico is home to many traditions and events, which take place especially at the end of the Summer, between mid-August and mid-September. We have the Palio dei Brancaleoni-Contesa della Pannocchia, our International Festival of the Ugly and the Sagra Nazionale del Polentone alla Carbonara, a typical dish from Piobbico. These events attract thousands of people, eager to discover our reality, cuisine and traditions.
Finally, what links together Piobbico and the Association?
Piobbico loves its Association and the Association loves Piobbico and its people. Even though we have members from all over the world, it’s here that everything was born, and people from here grew up respecting one another, sharing the same values of respect and tolerance the Association has been endorsing for more than a century.
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