Dua Lipa and Callum Turner will marry in a three-day Sicilian extravaganza this week, hand picking an idyllic villa for the centre of their celebrations.
After falling in love with the city of Palermo during a holiday there last summer, the popstar, 30, and actor, 36, will marry at Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, a town ten miles away from the capital.
Just hours after their intimate civil ceremony in London’s Marylebone Registry Office on Sunday, a team of workers began closing roads around the venue which will play host to the celebrations this weekend.
Top showbiz names including Elton John, Olivia Dean, Mark Ronson and Charli XCX, will be among the guests for the rumoured £1 million bash.
But whilst the 18th century-built Villa Valguarnera has a lustrous onscreen history, including its feature in the opening credits of The White Lotus and as the setting for a Dolce & Gabbana commercial, its real life history is somewhat murkier.
The 100-room villa was once a prominent meeting point for the Palermo intelligentsia, attracting the attention of bosses of the Sicilian Mafia, aka the Cosa Nostra, who moved in during the 1980s.
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner will marry in a three-day Sicilian extravaganza this week, hand picking an idyllic villa for the the centre of their celebrations
After falling in love with the city of Palermo during a holiday there last summer, the popstar, 30, and actor, 36, will marry at Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, a town ten miles away from the capital
At the time, the small town of Bagheria was part of Sicily’s so-called Triangle of Death due to the sheer number of mob murders.
The villa earned a reputation among the Mafia as a safe hideout for the likes of Bernardo Provenzano and Matteo Messina Denaro while they were on the run.
Mobsters staying there trashed the historic villa. At one point wild animals were allowed to run free across the acres of gardens and inside the lavish 100 rooms, destroying the ballroom.
They also notoriously stole an ancient Polifemo statue from the garden with a helicopter, while there were also plans to transform the villa into a casino.
But by the late 90s the mob moved out, ousted by the Villa’s Italian princess owner Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, 76, who still resides at the residence to this day, and is a little more choosy about who she rents it out to.
The Mafia exit led to an about turn for the town’s reputation, thanks to the locals’ crackdown on Cosa Nostra families, with businesses revolting against paying protection money in recent decades.
Filippo Tripoli, the town’s mayor, has told The Times: ‘Bagheria is bouncing back after years in which it was known for Mafia and violence, and Dua Lipa helps that process by putting it on the map for a different reason.’
Villa Valguarnera will host Dua and Callum’s main ceremony while the couple are also expected to hold a second civil ceremony officiated by the Mayor of Palermo Roberto Lagalla during their three days of celebrations.
The 100-room villa was once a prominent meeting point for the Palermo intelligentsia, attracting the attention of bosses of the Sicilian Mafia, aka the Cosa Nostra, who moved in during the 1980s
The stunning 18th-century Palazzo Gangi – which is privately owned – will be the centre of the party on Saturday, with its spectacular Galleria degli Specchi (Hall of Mirrors) providing the perfect setting.
No expense will be spared for the wedding with the couple estimated to be worth more than £100million thanks to Dua Lipa’s singing success and Turner’s acting career – he is lined up to be the next James Bond.
Three hundred family and friends will be attending the three-day shindig which begins on Thursday with private jet slots booked up at Palermo’s airport and a fleet of blacked out limos to ferry guests to various villas and hotels.
Private security firms have also been doing a roaring trade with teams of bodyguards also hired and all staff involved in the wedding have been made to sign non-disclosure agreements.
Dua and Callum fell in love with Sicily during a holiday last summer and she is often pictured in the famous pink and black strip of the city’s football club.
They also attended the wedding of Charli XCX and The 1975’s George Daniel when they tied the knot last September in Tonnara di Scopello just down the road from Palermo.
According to Conde Nast, the nuptials have made Sicily the wedding destination of the year and bookings for the sun kissed Mediterranean island are said to be shooting through the roof.
A source in Palermo said: ‘Everyone has been talking about this wedding for days. It’s going to be so cool and glamorous with such a lot of showbiz stars.
‘We all have a soft spot for Dua because she always speaks so highly of the city and loves wearing the football shirt of the city’s club.
‘But things are being kept very closely guarded with screens going up and people having to sign confidentiality agreements.’
Katie Hind reveals the secrets of Dua Lipa’s SECOND wedding bash exclusively in the Spotlight newsletter on Tuesday. Read here
