This is how to be the best tourist
'The wedding mingled festivity with competitive ostentation and more than a touch of regal pomp. The bridegroom and his groomsmen rode in procession through the city… A bridge of boats had been constructed across the Grand Canal to bring them to the bride's house, where L was escorted by no fewer than 60 bridesmaids.'
Not, as it happens, a sneak preview of the wedding rehearsal of the world's third richest man, Jeff Bezos, and his bride-to-be: the helicopter pilot and occasional astronaut Lauren Sánchez. But a description of the marriage on January 29 1441 of Jacopo Foscari, son of the doge of Venice, and Lucrezia Contarini.
The Bezos bash, to be held over several days this week, will certainly rival the banqueting, jousting and processions to the sound of trumpets that enlivened the Foscari/Contarini do. As the Bezos yachts bear down on La Serenissima and the bride's reported 27 couture wedding outfits jostle for wardrobe space, the city's luxury hotels have been block-booked for some 200 of the couple's closest friends – expected to include a clutch of Trumps, Bezos's fellow masters of the tech universe, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, and Oprah Winfrey.
Venice's centuries-old expertise in hosting blingy weddings ensured that when George and Amal Clooney were married there a decade ago, everything went stylishly to plan, with guests including Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro and Anna Wintour providing a sheen of Hollywood glamour that was a welcome distraction from a mayoral corruption scandal.
But the times are more fretful now, and the Venetian mood distinctly less indulgent towards rich visitors who take over their city as the setting for a fabulous wedding video. Complaining that the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, disregards the interests of Venetians, activists have hung 'No Space for Bezos' banners from the Rialto Bridge and the bell tower of the San Giorgio Maggiore basilica.
The Venetian demonstrations are the latest manifestation of a growing anti-tourist sentiment which has been spreading steadily across Europe. This month has seen protests against mass tourism in Spain, Italy and Portugal, with residents of popular destinations complaining that over-tourism and the proliferation of short-term holiday lets, such as Airbnb, have turned their cities into amusement parks, destroyed their culture and traditions, driven local people and businesses from their neighbourhoods.
In Venice, where tourist beds outnumbered residents for the first time in 2023, activists accuse the council of being slaves to profit. Elsewhere, resentment at the impact of tourism on daily life has driven frustrated locals to turn water pistols on holiday-makers.
Earlier this year, after a chaotic jam of tourists, cars and locals on the narrow stone bridge of the picturesque Lombardy village of Sirmione, the mayor, Luisa Lavelli, came up with an ingenious solution: good manners tutors. Wearing high-vis tabards emblazoned with the slogan 'Keep calm and enjoy', Sirmione's street tutors manage foot-flow across the bridge and encourage respectful behaviour – no sitting on pavements or wandering about semi-clad. 'You have to be kind, but determined,' said tutor Alfredo Pasquali.
Good manners and traffic management alone are not the solution, but they could be a start. Charm, as the Bezos party and anyone else visiting Europe this year may find, has a power that is sometimes just as effective as cash.
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