Ahead of the announced protests over Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding in Venice, wedding planners Lanza & Baucina stepped in to reject detractors’ accusations of the “privatization” of the lagoon city.
The company released a blunt official statement in response to planned protests: “As event organizers who have been working in Venice for over 24 years, we feel obliged to provide clarity, given the misinformation, falsehoods and misunderstandings circulating. From the very beginning, both our client’s instructions and our guiding principles have been very clear: minimizing the impact of the event for the city, respect for its residents and institutions, and the preeminent use of local workers in the creation of the events.”
The organizers, who specialize in organizing very high-profile events in normally inaccessible locations, pushed back on what they characterized as “rumors of a ‘takeover’ of the city.”
“They are completely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and reality,” the statement continued. The three aristocratic wedding planners—Prince Antonio Licata of Baucina and his cousins, Counts Riccardo and Aleramo Lanza—denied rumors of the event disrupting the city, clarifying that “an exaggerated amount of water cabs or gondolas has never been booked, the number of cabs booked is proportionate to the number of guests.”
Even before the recent news of the protests, the firm had worked to minimize the negative impact and inconvenience to the lives of Venetians and visitors to the city, they explained. “We have always acknowledged the broader debate and critical issues surrounding the city’s future, and from the beginning our client has been honored to support the city and its very important lagoon through nonprofit organizations and associated projects.”
The statement comes as preparations intensify for the demonstrations announced by the “No Space for Bezos” movement, born out of the Laboratorio Morion social center and supported by a wide network of groups: the Social Assembly for Housing, Adl Cobas, student collectives, Extinction Rebellion, committees against touristic redevelopment, and the No Grandi Navi group.
On Saturday, June 28, the final day of the wedding celebration (presumably at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, after an initial event at the Cini Foundation on the 27th) activists are ready to mobilize by any means: on foot, by boat, and even by swimming, armed with inflatable ducks, flamingos, swans, mats, wetsuits, and anything else that will attract attention.
No Grandi Navi spokesman Tommaso Cacciari explained that the goal is to “prevent the access of the guests” at the wedding, and to send a strong message against an economic and social model that, according to the protestors, is turning Venice into an exclusive playground for the rich.
Original story from VF Italia.
