CURIOUS GEORGE
Italian town bans Clooney’s Cloone stalkers
IN A gesture of solidarity with their most famous resident and a possible sign that the Hollywood actor and his British fiancee are planning to wed soon, officials in the Italian town of Laglio have imposed a no-go zone around George Clooney’s villa.
Members of the town’s governing commune made the decision as they faced an invasion of well-wishers intent on witnessing the second marriage of a man once considered one of the world’s most eligible bachelors.
‘‘Clooney has always exerted a certain fascination, and this year the fact that he’s accompanied by a woman who is not only glamorous but also highly intelligent will only increase the curiosity,’’ Roberto Pozzi, the village mayor, said.
He was referring to Amal Alamuddin, 36, the human rights lawyer to whom Clooney is engaged.
Following the news of their engagement this year and against the drumbeat of speculation that a wedding was imminent, village officials have moved to ban loitering in the street behind his property and in the waters of Lake Como immediately beyond its walled garden and stone jetty.
They will not, to the marriage of Clooney and Alamuddin, admit impediments, or gawkers or magazine reporters doing the breaststroke in the immediate vicinity of Villa Oleandra, which Clooney bought in 2001 and which was featured briefly in the film Ocean’s Twelve. A no-sail zone has been established in the lake, effective to within 100m of the villa: anyone venturing closer between August 5 and the end of September could be fined € 19 (NZ$29), although there have been reports of the penalty rising to € 500.
The decrees, issued on June 21, do not cover residents of Laglio, who may continue to loiter and swim where they choose. Members of the rowing club are also still permitted to plough those exclusive waters.
‘‘These prohibitions are necessary because there have been unpleasant episodes in the past, for example people going right up under the windows of the house and yelling the actor’s name,’’ Pozzi told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
‘‘The ban on congregating in the road behind the house is for safety reasons – the road is very narrow and it would just require a small crowd of people gathering there for the risk of accidents to increase.’’
As the town prepared its defences this week, it also played host to what was said to be the first meeting between Clooney and his prospective mother-in-law – the formidable Lebanese journalist Baria Alamuddin. Witnesses to this summit have said it went off without a hitch.
Raghida Dergham, the senior diplomatic correspondent for the Al Hayat newspaper, where Baria serves as foreign editor, described her as ‘‘a fantastic journalist and a great mother’’.
She said: ‘‘She’s going to be protecting her daughter no matter what, even if it is at the expense of her own scoops.’’