BRACCIANO, Italy – This lakeside town was busy Friday sprucing up its medieval facade with a touch of Hollywood flair on the eve of Tom Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes, naming restaurant menus after the actors’ most famous movies and filling shop windows with well-wishing messages.
Streets were cleaned, the grass cut and weeds pulled. Road signs outside Bracciano warned drivers that the center of town would be closed to traffic today to free the area around the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle – the likely venue for the celebrity wedding.
By early afternoon, town workers began setting up barriers on the street leading to one of the castle’s entrances. The historic town’s narrow streets teemed with journalists and camera crews, while locals made their own preparations.
“We are all participating a little in this wedding,” said Simona Palazzini, a restaurant owner in the square next to the castle. “And we are quite happy to do so.”
At the Il Ristorantino dining spot, Palazzini offered a “Top Gun” menu that included fettuccine with seafood called “Mission Impossible” and apple pie with cream and hot chocolate named after Suri, the couple’s daughter. At the nearby Trattoria del Castello, guests could order a “Tom e Kat” – a basket of parmesan cheese with truffles and mushrooms.
“Wishing you love and happiness,” read one well-wishing sign written in English and taped to the window of a coffee shop.
“Congratulations Tom and Katie,” said a sticker on the window of a clothing store, whose two other windows sported a wedding dress with a photograph of the couple and a “Top Gun” theme with aviation outfits and jackets, and a poster of Cruise as Maverick, the pilot he played in the movie.
Nearby, a store had an arch of white balloons over its doorway, except for one red balloon shaped like a heart. A picture of the couple and a postcard of Bracciano hung from the red balloon.
“This is good for the town. It’s a beautiful thing that will make Bracciano known to the whole world,” said Iolanda Barbarani, who owns a hardware store.
Lidia Sabbatini, who owns a flower shop, said residents were beside themselves with excitement.
“Everybody is so enthusiastic. … it’s not an everyday thing to have a Hollywood star as a guest,” Sabbatini said. “That’s all anyone is talking about. Wherever you go, they’re talking about it. People aren’t even taking the time to buy bread!”
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