Activists in Venice, Italy, are protesting the upcoming destination wedding of tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez, as reports of the event's extreme extravagance divide the city.
Bezos — the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner — is one of the world's richest men, with an estimated net worth of $231 billion according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. He and Sánchez — a former news anchor and licensed pilot — got engaged in 2023, four years after going public with their relationship.
Their nuptials have been the subject of speculation and intense secrecy ever since.
After returning from the brief — and widely panned — all-female spaceflight she organized on one of Bezos' Blue Origin rockets in April, Sánchez quipped that she had to make it back safely for her wedding, otherwise "that would be a bummer for me."
Sánchez's brother Paul has compared it to the 1981 royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, telling TMZ in March, "I think it's gonna be like a Princess Di thing."
While precise details about the wedding remain under wraps, Italian media and global newswires report it will be held in Venice in late June. Reports of a multiday, multimillion-dollar affair — is expected to draw hundreds of celebrants to a fragile lagoon city already grappling with overtourism — sparked concerns in Italy.
In March, the city of Venice denied media reports that wedding organizers had reserved large numbers of gondolas and water taxis for the event, which had fueled fears of disruptions for the tourists and locals who use them for daily transport.
Venetian officials said there would be only 200 guests, an easily accommodated number for a city used to hosting all sorts of political summits, cultural events and VIP weddings (including George and Amal Clooney's in 2014).
"We are mutually working and supporting the organizers, to ensure that the event will be absolutely respectful of the fragility and uniqueness of the city," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said, according to the Associated Press.
But that hasn't stopped protesters from making their disapproval known. Activists uniting under the "No Space for Bezos" movement — nodding to the couples' spacefaring pursuits — have taken issue with what they call the privatization of their city and the local government's perceived prioritization of tourism over the needs of its residents.
Throughout the month, protesters have hung anti-Bezos posters and banners on various locations across the city, including the bell tower of the San Giorgio Maggiore basilica and the famous Rialto Bridge. On Monday, activists from Greenpeace Italy and the U.K. group "Everyone Hates Elon [Musk]" joined the action, Reuters reports.
They hung a banner in St. Mark's Square, with a picture of Bezos laughing and the words: "If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax."
Lanza & Baucina Limited, the organizers of the Bezos-Sánchez wedding, have released a rare statement seeking to set the record straight about "rumours of 'taking over' the city," calling them "entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality."
It said "no exaggerated quantity" of water taxis or gondolas were booked, and the number of taxis reserved is "proportionate for the number of guests."
"From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: the minimising of any disruption to the city, the respect for its residents and institutions and the overwhelming employment of locals in the crafting of the events," the firm told NPR in a statement on Monday.
When asked for comment, an Amazon spokesperson referred NPR to the organizers' statement.
Here's what else we know — and still don't — about the wedding and the protests against it.
Where and when is the wedding?
Most reports say the wedding celebrations will span three days, but the exact dates vary.
Reuters and others say the window is likely June 26-28, while the AP — citing Italian media — previously reported it could be June 24-26.
There have been similarly conflicting reports about the ceremony's whereabouts.
A spokesperson for Brugnaro, Venice's mayor, told CNN in March that it would take place on Bezos' 417-foot superyacht, the Koru. The ship has made headlines before: In 2022, the Dutch city of Rotterdam considered temporarily dismantling a historic bridge to allow the Koru to leave the shipyard where it was built — but reversed course after residents protested, including threatening to egg it.
But other outlets, including CNN and The Hollywood Reporter, report that the couple may get married on the private island of San Giorgio Maggiore, specifically in a monastery there.
The "No Space for Bezos" activists, meanwhile, say the wedding is supposed to take place in the 14th-century Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a school armory-turned-event venue, according to EuroNews and CNN. The protesters are hoping that won't happen.
"Bezos will never get to the Misericordia," organizer Federica Toninello told supporters at a protest earlier this month, per CNN. "We will block the canals, line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats."
Why are people protesting?
Locals opposed to the wedding festivities have multiple concerns, ranging from logistical disruptions to environmental impacts of a sudden influx of yachts and private jets.
"Bezos is basically going to treat the whole city as a private ballroom, as a private event area, as if the citizens are not there," protester Alice Bazzoli told Sky News.
The island city is actively sinking due to rising sea levels and mass tourism. In an effort to curb the latter, it now requires day-trippers over the age of 14 to pay a daily tax on certain days (either 5 or 10 euros depending on timing) to visit its 2.5 square-mile historic city center.
The massive influx of tourists has worsened the housing crisis, as many residential buildings have been converted into short-term rentals, and led to a drop in the population as many residents try their luck elsewhere.
It's against this backdrop that Bezos and Sánchez are arriving for their wedding, which regional governor Luca Zaia has said is expected to cost the equivalent of $23-$34 million. While Zaia says that will give a much-needed boost to the local economy, people protesting the event worry they won't personally experience the benefits of that money.
"Venice (like everywhere) needs public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism," Greenpeace UK said on Bluesky. " It's time to #TaxTheSuperRich and make them pay for the destruction they cause – the world is not their playground."
What has the response been to protests?
Venice's mayor, Brugnaro, told reporters Friday that he was ashamed of the protesters, saying "we will have to apologize to Bezos."
"I hope that Bezos comes anyway," he said. "Not all Venetians think like these protesters."
The wedding organizers, Lanza & Baucina Limited, said in their statement that since before the protests broke out, it had "worked for there to be minimal negative impact or disruption to the lives of Venetians and the city's visitors."
"We have always acknowledged the wider debate and critical issues surrounding the city's future, and from the outset our client has been honoured to support the city and its all-important lagoon through non-profit organisations and associated projects," the company added.
Bezos has made sizable contributions to Venetian charities in the lead-up to the wedding, including a million-euro donation to Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice's lagoon ecosystem, Reuters reports. According to the AP, Corila confirmed over the weekend that Bezos' Earth Fund had made an "important donation" back in April, well before protests started.
The AP reports that at least two historic Venetian companies will contribute to the festivities: Rosa Salva, the city's oldest pastry maker, and Laguna B, a design studio famous for its distinctive, handmade Murano glassware.
Antonio Rosa Salva, the 6th generation in his family to run the bakery, said he will be supplying a selection of treats for guests' goody bags — and welcomes the honor.
"I don't see how an event with 200 people can create disruptions," he told the AP. "It's prestigious that a couple like this, who can go anywhere in the world, are getting married in the city."
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