Hundreds of the world’s richest and most famous are about to descend on Venice for the extravagant wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sanchez.

Jeff Bezos, 61, the world’s third richest person, and the 55-year-old former journalist and pilot Sanchez have reportedly planned a lavish ceremony that will take over the Italian tourist city for most of next week from Sunday.

Bezos – the founder of Amazon and space tech company Blue Origin – has an estimated net worth of $US220.9 billion ($340 billion). He has reportedly spared no expense for his upcoming second wedding.

According to Italian media, the wedding party has booked out almost every luxury hotel in the historic city, along with many water taxis. The entire island of island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark’s Square, has also been booked out.

Other guests will stay on Bezos’ $500 million superyacht Koru, and other luxury leisure boats expected to dock in the city.

The actual nuptials are reportedly set for June 28 at the 14th century Misericordia, a former school armoury in central Venice that is now an exclusive events venue.

But not if some Venetians have their way.

“Bezos will never get to the Misericordia,” Federica Toninello told a crowd of hundreds at a protest at the city’s famous Rialto Bridge last week.

“We will block the canals, line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats.”

Protest signs are plastered across the historic city. Photo: X

Toninello’s speech – in front of a banner for the “No Space for Bezos” protest group – drew raucous applause from the crowd.

“Venice is being treated like a showcase, a stage,” Toninelli said.

“This wedding is the symbol of the exploitation of the city by outsiders … Venice is now just an asset.”

The No Space for Bezos campaign unites activists from various Venetian groups  – from those who want more housing for the city’s dwindling population to the anti-cruise ship committee.

“These topics are all linked,” Toninelli told the BBC. “They all have to do with Venice turning into a place that puts tourists, rather than residents, at the centre of its politics.”

Another speaker, Na Haby Stella Faye, urged locals ensure the wedding would be remembered for their opposition – not Sanchez’s reported 27 outfit changes.

“Let’s make sure that Venice is not remembered as a postcard venue where Bezos had his wedding but as the city that did not bend to oligarchs,” she said.

“We can’t miss a chance to disrupt a $10 million ($A15.4 million) wedding.”

The extravagant plans have divided the vulnerable city, where there have long been concerns about overtourism.

Venice has fewer than 50,000 permanent residents. On some days during its busy tourist season, there are more than twice as many tourists in town – with total visitor numbers in 2023 estimated at 15 million.

Last year, Venice became the first city on the world to introduce a charge for visitors, hoping to ease the endless flow of day-trippers.

The city confirmed the Bezos-Sanchez wedding plans in March, estimating a guest count of about 200.

“We are mutually working and supporting the organisers, to ensure that the event will be absolutely respectful of the fragility and uniqueness of the city,” Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro said.

This week Brugnaro said he was ashamed of the protesters.

“What other city would organise a committee against the wedding of such an important person?” he said.

“I hope [Bezos] doesn’t have second thoughts.”

Jeffrey Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have divided Venice with their extravagant wedding plans. Photo: AAP

Jeweller Setrak Tokatzian – who heads the St Mark’s shopkeepers’ traders association – agreed, telling Italian media that protesters “hurt the city”.

“This kind of event brings in work and wealth, otherwise all we have left is increasingly low-cost tourism,” he said.

The Bezos-Sanchez wedding is far from the only ritzy do to be held in Venice. George and Amal Clooney married there in 2014, and officials say there have already been three multimillion-dollar marriages this year without opposition.

But next week’s event remains controversial. Unhappy locals have papered Venice with images that include Bezos’s head on a rocket, zooming away from their city.

Toninelli said the opposition was multifaceted.

“We want to spark a citywide conversation and to say that people like Bezos – who represent a future we don’t want and a world we don’t want to live in – are not welcome here,” she said.

-with agencies