“If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,” screamed an enormous Greenpeace banner covering the historic paving stones in Venice’s St Mark’s Square earlier this week. The sign is one of many that have dominated La Serenissima’s heritage buildings (and been quickly taken down by police) in protest against the Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s upcoming wedding to the media personality Lauren Sanchez. The three-day city takeover kicks off today.
From a pre-wedding foam party aboard Bezos’s $500m superyacht (so very 1980s Magaluf, don’t you think?) to the arrival of US first daughter Ivanka Trump, all eyes are on this extravaganza – aided in no small part by the accompanying party of paparazzi ready to send footage around the world. Whatever the cost, it will be small change to Bezos, who is worth around $225bn, and to his guests: Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey and Kim Kardashian are among the A-listers who have been arriving by yacht and private jet.
