An Italian sparkling wine company has set out to find the perfect breast — to serve as a mold for a new champagne glass.

Family-run winery Pittaro is running a contest with twelve finalists demurely covered in semi-strategic grape leaves to promote a spumante. The one voted as having the ‘ideal breast’ will see her curves immortalized in Murano glass for these mammary-inspired limited edition goblets.

Fearing backlash for pushing taste boundaries in ergonomic design, family member Patrizia Pittaro was quick to declare her support for the contest, one that she feels women won’t find degrading. In a country where leading news magazines compete using naked women to illustrate cover stories, the publicity stunt has failed to raise much dust so far.

"Not really what you’d call good taste, OK, but offensive, not really" Irene Galviani, a 43-year-old teacher and self-defined ‘neo-feminist,’ told zoomata. "There’s nothing offensive to me about the shape of women’s breasts, it’s just a marketing ploy."

The contest is the brainchild of photographer Gianfranco Angelico Benvenuto, whose other noteworthy projects include a calendar of naked housewives. Benvenuto said the selection of the finalists was tough work — the rules imposed a strict silicone ban.

Over the centuries, legends tell of champagne cups molded on famous breasts — namely Marie Antoine, Madame du Pompadour, Madame du Barry and the Empress Josephine. All false — the basic champagne glass predates the famous Frenchwomen, so an Italian may be the first to actually become a mold.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingual journalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.