Sarah Rainesford
Rome correspondent
EPA/ShutterStock
Protesters deployed banners targeting Bezos from the famous Rialto Bridge in Venice
The gorgeous wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and television presenter Lauren Sanchez will end in Venice tonight at the Main Gala event.
However, as celebrity guests were preparing to step into a water taxi from the luxury hotel, the paparazzi calmed down, and several Venetian crowds gathered to protest the big event.
Their causes range from locals to locals who oppose sensitive urban overtourism to activists who protest climate change and capitalism.
Hundreds of people marched through the city on Saturday nights, hanging “no space for Bezos” banners from the Rialto Bridge, and leaving multicolored flares. However, plans have been dropped to confront the city’s canals with inflatable crocodiles and block the aisles of wedding guests.
He headed to Harry Bar for lunch on Saturday and when local journalists asked him what he had protested, Bezos kissed him for the camera.
The city’s deputy mayor dismissed the activists as “narcissists,” and the wedding argued that it was “high quality tourism” that Venice needs.
Economic Development City Councilman Simone Venturini said he hopes “many people want to marry in Venice now” and that he hopes to boost the city’s wedding department.
“We are not Iran. The city can’t say who can get married or who can’t. There’s no moral police,” he told the BBC, a bank on Gondola Island, where the gondola has loaded tourists where the gondola drifted away.
Reuters
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez were painted on Saturday on the final day of their wedding celebration in Venice
But activists have already claimed one victory.
Tonight’s party was further moved from the city centre for security reasons. The new venue, Arsenale, is easy to protect.
“I think the main problem is that Venice has become more of a recreational park,” argues Paola, an Italian member of the extinct rebel group.
She is particularly infuriating that wedding guests arrive here on a private jet and claim that the world’s elites are the worst polluters.
“Of course, large tourism eats living cities, but the fact that billionaires can come here and use the city as a recreational park is a big problem.”
The star descends for “This year’s wedding”
Instagram/Reuters
Italian media jumped at the glamour and charm of what was blowing away “the wedding of the year.”
Their pages and posts are packed with photos of around 200 A-list celebrities currently in town, including Leonardo Di Caprio and Kim Kardashian.
There’s a story about a squid banquet – tonight’s spread features cod, cooked local style – and a photo of the bride’s white lace dolce and Gabbana gown, apparently inspired by what Sofia Lauren wore in the 1950s.
However, the story of the wedding that stopped the city seemed to be exaggerated.
Ivanka Trump, like Bill Gates, has been found in an art gallery, with the newly married couple being photographed and filmed in various locations and costumes.
However, most tourists, or Venetians, are more likely to hit Bezos, who traveled specifically from Germany to take photos than the rich and famous real-life ones.
There were still plenty of water taxis and gondolas hired, and there were no angry tourist crowds.
Some streets were temporarily closed around the main event, but the confusion appears to be minimal.
Most of the posters declaring “there is no space for Bezos” are torn apart, and you can see the oddities of the graffiti. Attempts to project a slogan onto the building were soon stopped by police.
A planned march by protesters is being held on Saturday evening with official permission.
Reuters
Italian media jumped at the glamour and charm of weddings
The Venetians split
But it is not an exaggeration to drive locals out of town, fearing that Venice will become a playground for tourists.
Right from the main train station, police will randomly check visitors for pass on mandatory days. Trying to control the crowd is a new measure.
Around the cafes are packed with pink from the cruelly intense sun, with people shining from the humidity.
A short walk is a considerable square where Roberto Zannon spent his whole life but now he has to leave.
His landlord sells his home to an out-of-town developer, and the 77-year-old is quickly kicked out along with his two dogs.
It is impossible to find anything else in his hometown, says Roberto. He cannot compete with well-paid tourists.
“One, two, three doors – they’re locals, but the rest is now all for tourists,” says Roberto, pointing to the wooden doors around his square.
“There will be fewer Venetians here,” he says quietly, deeply upset by the loss of his home. “There’s no more purpose. You lose your friends. You lose a part of your heart. But sadly, this situation cannot be stopped.”
That doesn’t mean that Roberto is worried about the billionaire who chooses Venice for his wedding.
He has worked as a tourist for many years and calls it “honor” to have such a famous guest in a city he himself loves so much. “I think that’s positive.”
He is not alone.
Roberto, 77, is being kicked out of his Venice home, but still feels that the wedding is “positive” because of the city
A souvenir shop selling magnets and t-shirts, Leda is all in favour of Bezos Sanchez’s Bonanza.
She is dull: “I think there should be more people here like Bezos. Now we have garbage tourism and Venice doesn’t deserve it.”
Leda once had its own store selling high quality Italian products, but had to close to accommodate the low spending market. “It’s low cost, hit and run tourism,” she says. “People take a 20 euro flight, come here and don’t use things. That’s not what Venice needs.”
So what is left when a big party leaves town?
The deputy mayor confirmed that high-tech boss Bezos has donated “about 3 million euros” in support gestures to a group working to protect the cities in the vulnerable city.
As for 30 million euros, weddings may net the city in other ways – activists call it “lagoon drop” for one of the richest men on the planet.
“For a normal person, if proportionate to Bezos’ wealth, it would be about three euros,” said Lorenzo from the extinction rebellion. “That’s a very small amount.”
