The lavish wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and e-book creator and helicopter pilot, Lauren Sánchez, is anticipated to happen subsequent week in Venice. Most reports say the occasion will host 200 visitors 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 principle island is about 2 sq. miles) metropolis that receives about 20 million visitors yearly. The overcrowding has develop into so unhealthy that town prices a 5 Euro daily entrance fee on some high-season dates. (It is also not simply Venice — in Spain, vacationers are being shot with water guns on crowded streets.)
Associated: Jeff Bezos’ Neighbors Just Sold Their Land. Here’s How Much It Costs to Live Next to the Amazon Founder.
And now the Bezos-Sánchez marriage 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 Pictures
For the previous few days main as much as the marriage, protesters have been making signs and chanting, “No area for Bezos,” in an apparent play on phrases relating to the area firm Bezos based, Blue Origin.
Nonetheless, the AP reports 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 further orders.
The Sixth-generation proprietor of Rosa Salva, a bakery that has been making pastries since 1876, advised the AP that his enterprise made a number of gadgets for the goody luggage for the marriage and was completely satisfied to see town within the nationwide highlight.
“Occasions like this convey high quality tourism to Venice,” he mentioned. “I do not see how an occasion with 200 folks 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 advised 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 world stage,” he mentioned.
Associated: Jeff Bezos Is Selling Billions Worth of Amazon Stock, According to a New Filing
