Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding may be the toast of Hollywood, but in Venice, Italy — where the couple plan to tie the knot — not everyone is celebrating.
While stars are jetting in for a glamorous, three-day affair to see the Amazon co-founder and his fiancee wed, a growing number of Venetians are raising their voices in protest, turning what should be a romantic getaway into a focal point of political and social resistance.
Locals have taken to the streets — and the skies — to make their frustrations known.
In a dramatic statement, protesters unfurled banners with Bezos’ name slashed out in red from the top of the iconic bell tower at San Giorgio Maggiore Church, according to TMZ.
Jeff Bezos hate has gone international I see… pic.twitter.com/NBxVCA7XSO
— GREG SMITH (@glsmith04) June 12, 2025
Another poster plastered across the city’s walls and plazas read “No Space for Bezos,” and featured red
It continued, “Let’s organize our response to Jeff Bezos’s wedding! Let’s prepare the days of common resistance where everyone can say: no space for Bezos!”
Alice Bazzoli is a member of the activist group behind the protests, claiming the movement isn’t a personal vendetta against the billionaire. Instead, it’s about standing up for a city long burdened by mass tourism, where residents feel pushed aside in favor of celebrity spectacles and mega-yacht invasions.
“It’s not about Bezos,” Bazzoli explained. “It’s about a system that keeps excluding us.”
In the Lagoon, from June 24 to 26, 250 guests are expected for the couple’s event
Meanwhile, protesters are preparing demonstrations: “No space for Bezos”
(Image AI by Grok) pic.twitter.com/dGeheOmQbv
— Mambo Italiano (@mamboitaliano__) May 26, 2025
The upcoming wedding, scheduled for June 24 to 26, has been meticulously planned down to every decadent detail.
Reports suggest Bezos and Sánchez have locked down five luxury hotels for their 250 guests and commissioned two superyachts — one stretching 127 meters long — to host the multi-day celebration. Sources estimate the cost of the festivities at around ten million euros. That kind of money, paired with restricted access to parts of the city and heightened security, has locals feeling shut out of their own home.
This isn’t the first public outcry. Protests began taking shape back in May, when a flyer for a demonstration circulated online, calling citizens to gather on May 30 at the Morion Laboratory in Venice.
Organizers accused Bezos of symbolizing “uncontrolled capitalism” and warned that the wedding would be another event that “holds the city hostage.”
By June, the opposition had swelled.
According to an Italian publication, La Nuova, on Friday, June 13, activists held an assembly in Campo San Giacometo — just steps from Venice’s famed Rialto Bridge — to strategize protest actions planned during the actual wedding weekend. Their frustration was visible in their signage, with Bezos’ eyes crossed out and an upside Amazon logo scrawled across his mouth.
Demonstrators ignited smoke bombs and promised continued resistance, even as city officials attempted to downplay the movement.
Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, made his position clear, siding with the billionaire.
“I’m ashamed of these people,” he said in a statement released by Italian news site Rainew.it, calling the protesters “a minority seeking publicity.”
The mayor insisted that Bezos’ presence should be a point of pride for the city.
“It’s an honor that he comes to Venice. Long live Bezos for life,” Brugnaro said.
The subject of dissent is the space tourism trip of the New Shepard spacecraft by Blue Origin, on which Sánchez and five other famous women, including Katy Perry and Kerrianne Flynn, flew on April 14 pic.twitter.com/4mcAGQ0kQ1
— Mambo Italiano (@mamboitaliano__) May 26, 2025
His statement, meant to affirm the city’s welcome, only widened the divide, reinforcing what critics see as a government more interested in appeasing billionaires than protecting everyday Venetians.
The wedding has also drawn attention for its environmental implications.
Protesters point to Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin, and a controversial suborbital flight that took place on April 14.
Lauren Sánchez was one of six women on board the New Shepard spacecraft, which Earth.org reports emitted 75 tons of carbon dioxide for just an 11-minute mission — a figure activists say equals the yearly emissions of a billion people living in poverty.
Compounding the backlash was Sánchez’s arrival in Cannes shortly afterward, where she accepted the Global Gift Foundation award for her ecological commitment, while stepping off Koru, a luxury yacht with a 750,000-liter fuel tank owned by Bezos.
Environmentalists were not impressed, calling out the apparent contradiction between Sánchez’s messaging and her lifestyle.
🎙️🚢🔥🎉💍Luxury & Love. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez turn up the heat aboard his $500M megayacht, Koru, off the coast of Cannes. The couple, set to wed in Venice this June, soaked up the sun as Sánchez flaunted a bikini while Bezos showered her with affection. Their… pic.twitter.com/pGuTedx4fQ
— GoodMorningRooster (@RoosterGM) May 24, 2025
While Blue Origin has defended itself, citing its commitment to research and regulatory compliance, the criticism continues to mount.
On social media, the message from Venetians has remained consistent: their anger is not about one couple’s wedding, but about what their presence symbolizes.
One post from the “No Space for Bezos” page summed it up starkly: “If in Venice you struggle to find housing, a job with adequate pay, spaces to study and socialize… the fault is not in the stars, but in the precise political will of an administration that prefers to ingratiate itself with a billionaire.”
As Bezos and Sanchez prepare to say “I do,” the couple will be doing so against a backdrop of unrest — instead of the usual romantic gondola serenade. With protests building and public opinion divided, their wedding may still dazzle the invited guests, but on the streets of Venice, the red carpet is starting to feel more like a warning flag.
