Some 200 VIPs must converge this week in Venice in Yacht or private jet this week to participate in the sumptuous marriage of the founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos, accused by some inhabitants of invading their city.
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The billionaire and his fiancée, journalist Lauren Sanchez, put millions of euros on the table for their wedding in the city of Doges. The festivities must start on Thursday and end on Saturday at a ceremony in a secret place for security reasons.
The marriage could be held at the Mercy church or even at the Arsenal, the magnificent red brick buildings of the Sérénissime shipyard dating from the time when its fleet dominated the Mediterranean.
Both divorced, Jeff Bezos, 61, and Lauren Sanchez, 55, have entirely reserved the most luxurious hotels in the Lacustrine City to accommodate their prestigious guests, among which Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Orland Bloom and Ivank Trump
At least 95 private planes asked for permission to land at Venice Airport Marco Polo, according to the Italian daily Il Corriere della will be.
Jeff Bezos’ Superyacht, Koru, should throw the moorings in front of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, located just opposite the famous Saint-Marc square and which would have been rented in full for the duration of the festivities.
This luxury debauchery aroused a controversy in Venice, where some fear that the guests and their entourage will make their city, already invaded by tourists, even more unlivable.
Some 100,000 tourists sleep in the city during the high season, to which are added tens of thousands of day visitors, including many gigantic cruise ships, while the city’s population is in free fall.
Eleven years ago, the marriage of actor George Clooney had not made waves in the lagoon, but Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, turns out to be more divisive, especially because of the controversies on the treatment by Amazon of his employees.
The carbon footprint of the guests also questions, and Greenpeace continues to denounce the staggering sums spent while the fragile balance of Venice “flows under the weight of the climate crisis”.
«No Space for Bezos»
Lauren Sanchez was also criticized for having participated in April in a space flight organized by the aeronautical company of Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, after saying that it was necessary to do more to fight against warming.
Monday, activists deployed a giant poster on Place Saint-Marc with a photo of Bezos Riant and this legend: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more taxes”.
Built over the centuries on islets in the lagoon, the city has set up a controversial entry ticket for day visitors, but some require a more ambitious policy to combat the housing crisis.
Questioned by AFP, Tommaso Cacciari, 47, at the head of the No Space For Bezos movement, denounces “the use of Venice as if it were a private ballroom, rather than a real city with its inhabitants, its weaknesses and its problems”.
Such events “condemn Venice to a certain death” by hunting the inhabitants who have left, he denounces, claiming that the opponents are ready to break the atmosphere by throwing “their bodies, their boats and inflatable animals” in the canals in the passage of the guests.
On the other hand, the tourism assistant, Simone Venturini, explains to AFP see only “one of the multiple events that the city welcomes every day”.
The couple, who also made donations to local charities, also asked for vintage craftsmen, for pastry or for the famous glasses of Murano.
Some residents are rather flattered by the billionaire’s choice: “This type of event does not create problems at all”, wants to believe Michele Serafini, 50 years old. This marriage “brings money to the city of Venice”, and that’s a good thing, he concludes.
