Mysterious Pitt-Jolie wedding a boon for Italian resort

By Nicholas Rigillo Mar 16, 2006, 15:52 GMT

US actress Angelina Jolie, left, and her companion fellow actor Brad Pitt. EPA/WALTER BIERI

Cernobbio, Italy - The paparazzi are jostling for position and the hotel owners are rubbing their hands in delightful anticipation.

Cernobbio was awash with rumours Thursday that Hollywood's most famous couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, were on their way to the Italian lakeside resort in view of getting married there Saturday.

Speculation over what has already been dubbed 'the wedding of the year' has been going on for months and, despite public denials from both actors, is refusing to go away.

'The latest I heard was that Brad and Angelina would be arriving in Milan tonight,' Giuseppe Salvioni, spokesman for Cernobbio's mayor told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Salvioni said he had no information as to whether the marriage would actually go ahead, but noted that there would be nothing stopping them from arriving in Cernobbio on Saturday morning and getting married on the same day.

According to Italian law, couples must make a public announcement of their wedding 30 days in advance. But this rule does not apply to foreigners, Salvioni noted.

'Having said that, I am as curious as you are to know whether this wedding will actually take place or not,' Salvioni told dpa.

Latest reports in the Italian press said Angelina, who is seven months pregnant, wanted to postpone the wedding because she was too tired.

George Clooney, who has reportedly offered to host the couple in his magnificent lakeside Villa Oleandra, has also denied the rumours, and so have officials at the nearby Villa D'Este resort, where a lavish wedding party is believed to be at the planning stage.

Suspecting that the denials may just be a diversion tactic, paparazzi have been heading for Lake Como, where they hope to catch a glimpse of the couple and sell snapshots worth more than 100,000 euros (120,000 dollars).

Meanwhile, Cernobbio mayor Simona Saladini, who has been tipped to officiate the ceremony on a traditional boat which her office coincidentally bought just a few days ago, has been showered by interview requests.

Local hotel owners, for their part, are already basking in delight at the free publicity that their resort has been receiving from the world press.

'The publicity we have been receiving so far is already worth 1 million dollars in terms of marketing,' Luca Leoni, a local hotel owner, was quoted as saying in the Italian press.

'And even if they were to get married elsewhere, I am sure that it will result in an increase in visitors,' Leoni said.