The lavish wedding ceremony of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and e-book writer and helicopter pilot, Lauren Sánchez, is predicted to happen subsequent week in Venice. Most stories say the occasion will host 200 friends and final three days, from June 24 to June 26, although the couple has not confirmed.
However Venice residents have been protesting in opposition to overcrowding and mass tourism, one thing that they are saying is negatively affecting the small (the primary island is about 2 sq. miles) metropolis that receives about 20 million guests yearly. The overcrowding has turn out to be so unhealthy that the town fees a 5 Euro day by day entrance charge on some high-season dates. (It is also not simply Venice — in Spain, vacationers are being shot with water weapons on crowded streets.)
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And now the Bezos-Sánchez wedding ceremony is within the crosshairs.
Folks collect to protest in opposition to the marriage of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice on June 13, 2025. ANDREA PATTARO/AFP | Getty Photos
For the previous few days main as much as the marriage, protesters have been making indicators and chanting, “No area for Bezos,” in an apparent play on phrases relating to the area firm Bezos based, Blue Origin.
Nevertheless, the AP stories that, regardless of the protests, the betrothed have used native distributors for about 80% of the provisions, and the companies they spoke to had been completely satisfied concerning the additional orders.
The Sixth-generation proprietor of Rosa Salva, a bakery that has been making pastries since 1876, informed the AP that his enterprise made a number of gadgets for the goody baggage for the marriage and was completely satisfied to see the town within the nationwide highlight.
“Occasions like this convey high quality tourism to Venice,” he stated. “I do not see how an occasion with 200 individuals can create disruptions. It is accountable tourism. It is prestigious {that a} couple like this, who can go anyplace on this planet, are getting married within the metropolis.”
The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, can also be excited for the occasion.
Brugnaro informed the AP this week that it was “an honor” that Bezos and Sánchez selected Venice.
“Venice as soon as once more reveals itself to be a worldwide stage,” he stated.
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