How the Bezos-Sanchez Wedding Is Impacting Venice
The island of San Giorgio Maggiore is one of Venice's most beautiful attractions.
Hovering in the lagoon directly across from St. Mark's Square, it's home to a church filled with Renaissance art, a bell tower with unparalleled views of the lagoon city, and an ancient monastery where visitors can take guided tours through the Renaissance cloisters, lose themselves in a labyrinth, or marvel at experimental modern architecture.
But if you were planning on visiting the island this week, there's bad news: It's been reserved for billionaires. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a former entertainment reporter, are due to wed in the open-air amphitheater on the island later today.
This is an odd time to visit Venice. And yet it's the most talked about city on the planet this weekend, thanks to the Bezos-Sánchez nuptials, which are taking the form of a three-day extravaganza held in various locations throughout the city. A raft of celebrities have taken over some of the area's most famous hotels—Kim Kardashian, Orlando Bloom, and Leonardo Di Caprio appear to be staying at the Gritti Palace, a five-star grande dame on the Grand Canal, while guests who less attached to the limelight are camped out at the Belmond Cipriani hotel on Giudecca island, overlooking St. Mark's.
I live by the Arsenale, the city's centuries-old dockyards where the wedding reception will be held on Saturday. Here, they used to churn out a galleon sailing ships in three days. Tomorrow, I should be getting a free Lady Gaga and Elton John concert.
But the Bezos-Sánchez wedding has brought far less entertaining disruptions to daily life for many Venetians, who are stuck navigating blocked-off streets in residential areas. Yesterday, I was stopped on my regular walk by security guards as I was near one of the wedding sites. Today, my supermarket run was observed by guards with dogs.
On Thursday, a block of the residential Cannaregio district was closed off while the wedding guests had a drinks reception in the cloister of the Madonna dell'Orto church. A video quickly went viral of one local being ordered to take a 20-minute diversion in the blazing heat to get home. Needless to say, that church—known for its dazzling paintings by Renaissance painter Tintoretto, who lived nearby—was also closed to visitors.
Some tourists have also felt the squeeze. Those who'd booked the trip of a lifetime at the luxury Aman on the Grand Canal were reportedly moved to another five-star hotel when Bezos and Sánchez block-booked the entire building.
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