Private jets soared above Venice’s archipelago, and towering superyachts slipped through its lagoon. Caterers baked buttery Venetian delicacies while protesters schemed. Bomb-sniffing dogs prowled the verdant island of San Giorgio Maggiore, in front of the Doge’s Palace.
Venice, the city built by merchants and tradesmen, girded itself this week for the nuptials of the doge of commerce of the digital age.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire tech entrepreneur, newspaper owner turned jacked tabloid fixture and A-list mingler, was set to celebrate his wedding to the energetic broadcaster Lauren Sánchez in a city that centuries ago set the standard for sumptuous, flashy ostentation.
From Thursday and for three days, the frescoed ancient homes of bankers and tradesmen that made Venice rich, now emptied of their residents and brimming with scented orchids, were ready to be turned over to influencers, rappers, pop stars and Ivanka Trump — all among the expected guests.
San Giorgio, where emperors once met with popes, would host the patron of Amazon.com.
City officials and business owners were proud, happy about the money and the prestige the event brings, and they welcomed the wedding, which was expected to stretch across several of the city’s islands, as a confirmation of Venice’s status as a world wonder.
But for many of the people who have made the uncommon choice to stay in an impractical city rendered almost unlivable by tourism in the easyJet age, the event was a climax of the city’s betrayal, an American-size display of its contradictions. It was the capitulation of Venice’s identity, they said, reduced to a glittery backdrop for the family photos of the world’s new oligarchy.
Venice’s left-leaning grass-roots groups, small but popular among its dwindling but determined residents, threatened to obstruct the wedding.
The protesters, who have adopted the slogan “No space for Bezos,” appear to have already met some of their goals. The party planned at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, which the protesters intended to block, was moved to another location. The booking for Mr. Bezos’ superyacht to dock in Venice was canceled.
On Monday, the British anti-billionaire group Everyone Hates Elon, together with Greenpeace Italy, laid out a giant protest banner on the stones of St. Mark’s Square. “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,” it said, above an image of the laughing billionaire.
Venice’s authorities were furious about the protests, which they called “reputational damage” to the city.
“He could have just got married in Beverly Hills,” said the Rev. Stefano Visintin, of the Abbey of San Giorgio, the Palladian church near where Mr. Bezos is expected to host one of his parties.
But could he?
In many ways, Venice was a no-brainer wedding destination for the Bezos-Sánchez pair, who since their relationship became public six years ago have engaged in a global parade of affection and high-gloss good life.
The couple’s much photographed love fest, during which Mr. Bezos swapped khakis and dress shirts for a bare chest and trunks, has included a massive diamond engagement ring, a girls’ trip to space for Ms. Sánchez, a star-studded engagement party and most recently a foam party on Mr. Bezos’ $500 million yacht.
Venice, a city largely built as an unapologetic declaration of wealth and power, with gilded palaces in polychrome marbles, frescoes and canvases by Renaissance masters, designed to impress and entertain on a grand scale, seemed like a perfect fit.
Lately, the couple have more often been photographed with friends from Hollywood than from Silicon Valley. It was little surprise that they did not choose somewhere like the Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., (where Mr. Bezos last got married in 1993) or a ski chalet in Utah, opting instead for the city where George and Amal Clooney 10 years ago tied the knot and glided around the lagoon aboard a water taxi named Amore.
Preparations for Mr. Bezos’ wedding have been surrounded by more secrecy than even some American war plans. Caterers and others said that they were made to sign nondisclosure agreements. But speaking on condition of anonymity, insiders shared some details.
One said that about 30 old-fashioned water taxis had been booked for the guests. Another that about 90 private jets were expected to arrive at the Venice airport in the upcoming days. Another that seven yachts linked to the nuptials had booked docking spots.
Over the past week, construction workers built a wide white cover above Teatro Verde, an open-air amphitheater on the San Giorgio island. On Monday, handlers were unloading pallets, tables and chairs by the island’s yacht club, near the Labyrinth of Borges, a tree maze inspired by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
The Gritti Palace, with its warm boiserie, portraits of doges and antique leather-bound volumes, was going to be reserved for the wedding guests. And so was the Papadopoli Palace, a baroque mansion on the Grand Canal decorated with gilded stuccoes and immense Murano chandeliers that now hosts an Aman hotel.
Although the menu for the parties was being closely guarded, workers with the luxury Italian catering company Federico Salza, which also fed the Clooneys’ wedding guests, roamed around the island of San Giorgio on Monday. Laguna B, a glassmaker with the trilogy “The Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism” displayed in its Venetian store, provided Murano glassware for the guests.
Antonio Rosa Salva, the sixth-generation owner of a Venetian patisserie that used to serve the local nobles, said he felt “under pressure” as they turned to baking for Mr. Bezos’ guests.
With money trickling down to Venice’s workers, and Mr. Bezos making donations to local research and conservation organizations, city officials said, What is the locals’ problem with the wedding?
“If I had a restaurant I should be happy to have Bezos at a table,” said Simone Venturini, a Venice’s city official. “Not have waiters standing in front of the door to stop him from entering.”
Many residents here insist that Venice is not a restaurant, and that they are not waiters.
“It’s this conception of Venice that pushed all of its residents out,” said Tommaso Cacciari, one of the leaders of the anti-Bezos protest. “To consider it not as a city but as a theme park.”
A visionary entrepreneur who has pushed the boundaries of innovation and disruptive technological change, Mr. Bezos was not coming to Venice, a city once built on innovation and ingenuity, to open a research center or an industrial hub, but to host a party.
For many Venetians, the tech mogul’s wedding was the ultimate paradox.
Mr. Bezos has helped accelerate the way we live, and the speed and the constant change he has effectively promoted stood in stark contrast with the fragility of Venice, a place seemingly frozen in time. His spaceship endeavors make the city’s boats look like folkloric relics.
Some residents lamented that Amazon parcels delivered by boat have helped shutter local stores, while the gig economy’s promise of instant gratification has further rendered Venice unviable for many.
“This city is incompatible with that kind of model,” said Marta Sottoriva, 34, a teacher in Venice.
What is more, some here point out, Mr. Bezos is no George Clooney.
Mr. Bezos’ level of wealth and the couple’s Mar-a-Lago aesthetic defy the social-democratic ethic, and the taste, of many Europeans. But more than anything, Mr. Bezos’ cozying up to President Trump gave the wedding a political glare that set him apart from some Hollywood stars.
“We can’t say it’s a private wedding” said Father Visintin. “These are political figures.”
For local officials, the protests themselves were the real contradiction, in a cosmopolitan city that had always welcomed all kinds of people.
Luca Zaia, the president of the Veneto region, which includes Venice, said that the city had long embraced even those some considered “uncomfortable,” such as the scientist Galileo Galilei, whom the church instead persecuted.
“Venice is everyone’s,” Mr. Zaia said as he snacked on crackers in his damasked office overlooking the Grand Canal. “Even Jeff Bezos’.”
Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome.
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