The Amazon founder and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, a US former television journalist, will tie the knot this week during a three-day celebration in the Unesco World Heritage-listed city, with a packed celebrity guestlist reported to include Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, Mick Jagger and Kim Kardashian.
Sánchez and Bezos have reportedly invited about 200 guests to their multimillion-dollar nuptials (Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP File)The celebrations are expected to start tomorrow with a pre-wedding gala on the tiny island of San Giovanni Evangelista, home to just 11 residents. On Friday, Bezos and Sánchez are set to exchange vows on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, rented out exclusively for the day and closed to the public.
Workers set up a footbridge late at the entrance of the luxury hotel Aman on 24 June 24 in Venice (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/ AFP)
However, activists opposed to the wedding being held in Venice are threatening wide-scale disruption to the event.
The couple’s main wedding reception was initially scheduled to take place at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a 16th-century building in the city’s Cannaregio district, but has been relocated to the Arsenale after activists threatened to block the canals with inflatable crocodiles to prevent the arrival of guests.
Bezos arrives by boat at an hotel in Venice on Wednesday (Photo: Luca Bruno/ AP)However, Cacopardo, who sits on the committee for No Space for Bezos, divulged to The i Paper that they had been working day and night in the days to the lead-up. There would be no boats involved, she said, but crocodiles would make an appearance.
Extinction Rebellion activists protest under the slogan “Tassare I Ricchi Per Ridare Al Pianeta” (Taxing the Rich to Give Back to the Planet) against the wedding of Bezos to Sanchez in Venice (Photo: Ernesto S. Ruscio/GC Images)
Local media reports suggested the change of venue to the Arsenale, a historic shipyard complex encircled by fortified walls, was driven by heightened security concerns following the escalation of conflict between Israel and Iran following US strikes, especially after Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, arrived in Venice on Tuesday.
“I don’t believe the change is because of this for one second,” said Cacopardo. “I believe they changed the venue because the thought of inflatable crocodiles around Scuola Grande della Misericordia would have been ridiculous. The pictures would have been something else and so it’s a huge victory for us.”
Protesters display a banner reading ‘No Space for Bezos!’ on the Rialto Bridge on 13 June (Photo: Manuel Silvestri/ Reuters)“At the moment we’re collaborating and working on the logistics of the move at Laboratorio Occupato Morion social centre in the Castello district,” said Giacomo Cervo, a political figure for Sinistra Italiana Venezia, who lives in the city and has been involved in the protests.
Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, at the Venice airport on Tuesday (Photo: Guglielmo Mangiapane/ Reuters)
Despite the secrecy surrounding the wedding, the guest list is rumoured to include stars like Orlando Bloom, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Tom Brady, Eva Longoria and Oprah Winfrey to name a few. Around 95 private jets are expected to land at Venice’s airport over the next few days.
Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg arrives at Venice Marco Polo airport on 24 June for the three-day wedding party (Photo: Andrea Pattaro/ AFP)
Also due to arrive on Wednesday is Elana Jassy, wife of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, with the pair travelling via a connecting flight from London.
square VENICE Locals plot protests as superyachts descend on Venice for Bezos wedding
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Bezos’ $500 million (£372 million) superyacht Koru and its support vessel Abeona were originally expected to be moored in Venice, but that plan appears to have been scrapped, with No Space for Bezos also claiming it as a win.
Earlier this week Greenpeace activists unfurled a poster in St Mark’s Square reading: “If you can rent Venice you can pay more tax”. A spokesperson for Greenpeace Italy told The i Paper that they would not be staging any protests before or on the wedding.
The activists’ key objective is to oppose everything Bezos stands for. “This is our city. We won’t make this easy for him,” concluded Cacopardo.
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