Inside Jeff Bezos’s first wedding party in Venice: Leonardo DiCaprio and Vittoria Ceretti among the guests, Neapolitan pizza, procession of boats and cell phones off

It is said “wet bride, lucky bride”, But we don’t know if in the end it really is. The first day of celebrations for The richest – and contested marriage – of the summer He ended up in storm: temporal, lightning, thunder and rapid run each at their taxi boats.

But let’s go back to where it all started. Rio della Madonna dell’Orto, in the heart of Cannaregio, shortly after 8 pm. The sun is still high in a very hot Venice. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez start from the Aman Hotel in a motorboat, They kiss in front of the photographers, greet in Italian, and make an appointment to their 200 guests in the cloister of the Madonna dell’Orto. Armored, indeed very armored. Law enforcement, private security, water motion: the entire area is isolated. Where once the patronage parties were organized, our driver Nicola tells us, now those of the billionaires are organized. Not far away, the first warehouse of the Select, where the Spritz was born, 200 years ago.

Among the guests to the three Venetian days of Mr Amazon, there is a bit of everything: the first great investors of Amazon (with yachts anchored in the lagoon), entrepreneurs, billionaire colleagues such as Bill Gates, crown heads (Rania of Jordan, with his son at Hussein and his wife Rajwa), children of presidents (Ivanka Trump) and of course, of course. Hollywood stars. Almost complete, the Kardashian family. Leonardo DiCaprio, unmistakable behind the usual hat, the girlfriend, the model Vittoria Ceretti, Orlando Bloom, Neo Single, and many others.

The cloister, owned by the Gelmi family of Caporiacco, was set up in record time: carved wooden doors that open and close at the speed of light, Mimetic tents dropped from above to shield every possible shot. Drivers drones and cell phones. In fact, the spouses would have asked guests for a “no phone” evening to be sure to enjoy the party. At the same time, in a channel near the cloister of the garden, An inflatable doll depicting Bezosdressed with Amazon suit and banknotes in hand, floats between the gondolas. It is just one of the last gestures of protest against What many, in Venice, have defined a show, a fabulous wedding for a few, in a city that fights with Overurism every day.

Inside, they tell, the cloister seemed suspended out of time. Soft lights, a piano, candles, murano glass toast, surprise menu: Pizza prepared at the moment by a famous Neapolitan chef. The first chapter ends here, wet from the rain. Day two awaits, with ceremony in San Giorgio Maggiore. It is time for another party, and other protests.