Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, has ignited a firestorm of controversy with his extravagant wedding to journalist Lauren Sánchez in Venice, Italy. The three-day celebration, estimated to cost between €40-48 million ($46.5-55.6 million), began on Thursday, June 26, 2025, drawing a star-studded crowd of 200-250 celebrities, politicians, and business executives. However, the lavish event has faced fierce backlash from residents and activists, who see it as a symbol of wealth inequality and the overtourism threatening their city’s survival.
The wedding festivities have taken over some of Venice’s most iconic venues, including the Madonna dell’Orto cloister and the historic Arsenale. High-profile guests such as Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ivanka Trump have flocked to the city, arriving on approximately 90 private jets at Marco Polo Airport and mooring luxury yachts along the canals. Five hotels have been fully booked for the occasion, with Bezos and Sánchez staying at the prestigious Aman hotel, where rooms overlooking the Grand Canal start at €4,000 per night.
The event has provoked a passionate response from the local activist group “No Space for Bezos,” a name that nods to Bezos’s Blue Origin space venture while highlighting the squeezed-out feeling of ordinary Venetians. Protesters have staged eye-catching demonstrations, unfurling massive banners from landmarks like the Rialto Bridge and San Giorgio Island’s bell tower. In one dramatic display, activists floated a dummy of Bezos on an Amazon box through the canals, stuffed with cash and clad in an Amazon worker’s jumpsuit.
Their efforts paid off when they forced organizers to shift the main celebration from the central Scuola Grande della Misericordia to the more remote Arsenale.
“We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!”
Said Tommaso Cacciari of the protest group.
“We’re just citizens who started organizing and we managed to move one of the most powerful people in the world out of the city.”
The uproar over Bezos’s wedding taps into deeper frustrations about Venice’s struggle with overtourism. The city’s historic center has seen its population plummet from 175,000 in 1951 to just 48,500 in 2024, while it hosts around 20 million tourists annually. On peak days, up to 120,000 visitors flood a city of only 50,000 residents, overwhelming its infrastructure and daily life. Local shops have given way to tourist traps, schools have shuttered due to a lack of students, and skyrocketing housing costs—fueled by short-term rentals like Airbnb—have driven residents out.
Venetian officials, however, highlight the wedding’s economic upside. Tourism Councillor Simone Venturini estimates a €20-30 million ($23.4-35.1 million) boost from the festivities, a figure Regional President Luca Zaia has called “worthwhile.” Bezos and Sánchez have also made efforts to give back, sourcing 80% of their wedding goods from local vendors and donating €1 million to Corila, a lagoon research group, while encouraging guests to support Venetian charities instead of giving traditional gifts.
“The issue isn’t the wedding itself; it’s the system,”
Protester Simona Abbate told Reuters.
“We believe a single billionaire shouldn’t have the power to rent an entire city for personal enjoyment.”
Venice has taken bold steps to curb its tourism problem. In 2024, it became the first city to impose a day-tripper access fee—rising from €5 to €10 in 2025—applied to 54 peak days yearly. The city also banned cruise ships over 25,000 tonnes from its historic center, addressing both environmental damage and overcrowding. Yet, the Bezos wedding, with its fleet of jets and yachts, has some questioning whether these measures are enough.
Beyond Venice, the wedding has drawn condemnation from environmental and social justice advocates.
“Bezos’s wedding is a symbol of extreme wealth, privilege, and a lot of things that are going wrong currently in the world,”
Said Clara Thompson of Greenpeace.
“And it’s taking place in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable cities.”
The irony stings in a city battling rising sea levels—a crisis critics link to the carbon footprints of billionaires like Bezos.
For locals, the stakes are personal. “Venice is not a theme park for the rich. It’s our home, and we’re being priced out and pushed aside,” one resident lamented.
