Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez marriage ceremony leaves Venice divided

[ad_1] Sarah Rainsford Rome Correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e295/live/680bec10-543f-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez pictured on Saturday on the final day of their wedding celebrations in Venice" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez pictured on Saturday on the ultimate day of their marriage ceremony celebrations in Venice

The lavish marriage ceremony occasion of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and TV presenter Lauren Sanchez concludes this night in Venice with the primary gala occasion.

However as their superstar friends step into water taxis from their luxurious inns, paparazzi poised, some Venetians are gathering to protest in opposition to the large occasion.

Their causes are assorted, from locals against over-tourism in a fragile metropolis, to activists protesting in opposition to local weather change and capitalism.

Whereas they plan to march on Saturday night, plans to launch themselves into the town's canals with inflatable crocodiles and block the marriage friends' passage have been dropped.

Protesters collect

Noticed heading into Harry Bar's for lunch on Saturday, Bezos blew kisses in direction of the cameras when a neighborhood journalist requested what he manufactured from the protests.

The town's deputy mayor dismissed the activists as "narcissists" and insisted the marriage was the "high-quality tourism" Venice wants.

Simone Venturini, metropolis councillor for financial developments, stated he hoped "lots of people will wish to get married in Venice" now and enhance the town's marriage ceremony sector.

"We're not Iran. The town can not say who can or who can not get married. Now we have no ethical police going round," he advised the BBC on the financial institution of the Grand Canal, as gondolas loaded with vacationers drifted by.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3974/live/a3994cc0-5438-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters Protesters in Venice holding signs and banners against Bezos " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters Protesters taking to the streets of Venice

The activists have already claimed one win, although.

Tonight's occasion was moved farther from the town centre for safety causes. The brand new venue, Arsenale, is simpler to guard.

"I believe the primary drawback is that Venice is changing into like an amusement park," argues Paola, an Italian member of the Extinction Revolt group.

She's particularly incensed that marriage ceremony friends arrived right here on non-public jets and argues the world's elite are the worst polluters.

"After all, mass tourism is consuming the town alive, however the truth that billionaires can come right here and use the town as their amusement park is a gigantic drawback."

Stars descend for 'marriage ceremony of the yr'

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/daba/live/7b3287a0-543e-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Instagram/Reuters Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos react at their wedding in Venice on 27 June" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Instagram/Reuters The Italian media have leapt on the glitz and glamour of what they're dubbing the "marriage ceremony of the yr".

Their pages and posts are full of images of the 200 or so A-list celebrities now on the town, together with Leonardo di Caprio and Kim Kardashian.

There's discuss of cuttlefish banquets – tonight's unfold will characteristic cod, cooked regional-style – and photographs of the bride's white lace Dolce and Gabbana robe, apparently impressed by one worn by Sophia Loren within the Nineteen Fifties.

It appears, nevertheless, that discuss of this marriage ceremony bringing the town to a halt was overblown.

Ivanka Trump has been noticed at an artwork gallery, as has Invoice Gates, and the newly married couple have been photographed and filmed in varied areas and outfits.

However most vacationers, or Venetians, usually tend to bump right into a Bezos look-a-like, who made a objective journey from Germany to pose for photographs, than any of the real-life wealthy and well-known.

There are many water taxis and gondolas nonetheless free for rent and no crowds of offended vacationers, disadvantaged of their magical experience.

Some streets have been briefly closed round the primary occasions however disruption seems to have been minimal.

Many of the posters declaring "No Area for Bezos" have been ripped down and simply the odd little bit of graffiti might be seen. Makes an attempt to undertaking slogans on buildings have been shortly stopped by police.

A deliberate march by protesters on Saturday night is going down with official permission.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fd08/live/7ad06410-5436-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters Lauren Sanchez dressed in a white jacket, sunglasses, and white silk headscarf, smiling as she steps off a boat." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters Italian media have leapt on the glitz and glamour of the marriage

Venetians divided

However fears of Venice changing into a vacationer playground, forcing locals out of city, aren't any exaggeration.

Simply down from the primary railway station, police verify guests at random for necessary day passes. It's a new measure to attempt to management the crowds.

Throughout, cafes are full of individuals shiny-faced from the humidity and pink from the brutally fierce solar.

A brief stroll away is the gorgeous piazza the place Roberto Zanon has spent all his life however which he now has to depart.

His landlord has bought his house to out-of-town builders and the 77-year outdated is being evicted quickly collectively together with his two canines.

Discovering the rest in his house metropolis is not possible, Roberto says. He cannot compete with higher-paying vacationers.

"One, two, three doorways - these are locals, however the remaining is all for tourism now," Roberto says, pointing to the picket doorways round his sq..

"There are fewer and fewer Venetians right here," he says quietly, deeply upset on the lack of his house. "There is no such thing as a objective any extra. You lose your mates. You lose piece of your coronary heart. However sadly this example is unstoppable."

That does not imply Roberto is fretting a few billionaire selecting Venice for his marriage ceremony, thoughts you.

He labored in tourism himself for a few years and calls it "an honour" to have such well-known friends within the metropolis he himself loves a lot. "I discover it constructive."

He isn't alone.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2b59/live/d09b9630-5436-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Roberto, who is in his seventies, standing outside a building in Venice" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Roberto, 77, is being evicted from his Venice house however nonetheless finds the marriage 'constructive' for the town

In a memento store promoting magnets and T-shirts, Leda is all in favour of the Bezos-Sanchez bonanza.

She is blunt: "I believe there must be extra individuals like Bezos right here. Proper now we get trash tourism and Venice does not deserve that."

Leda used to have her personal retailer promoting high quality Italian items however needed to shut it to adapt to a low-spending market. "It is low-cost, hit-and-run tourism," she says. "Individuals take 20 euro flights, come right here and do not spend a factor. That is not what Venice wants."

So what will likely be left, when the large occasion jets out of city?

The deputy mayor confirmed tech boss Bezos had donated "round three million euros" to teams working to guard this fragile city-on-the-water, in a gesture of help.

As for the 30 million euros the marriage would possibly web the town in different methods - activists name {that a} "drop within the lagoon" for one of many richest males on earth.

"It is round three euros for a traditional particular person, should you put in proportion to Bezos's wealth," Lorenzo from Extinction Revolt stated. "It is a very low amount of cash."