Cruise-Holmes wedding recalls Rome's Dolce Vita

ROME, Nov 17 (Reuters) La Dolce Vita is back. Rome basked in Hollywood glamour today as paparazzi gave chase to Tom Cruise and his bride-to-be Katie Holmes, along with a jetload of celebrity guests, ahead of their wedding on Saturday in a lakeside town north of the Italian capital.

''La Dolce Vita returns to the Tiber'' and ''Hollywood decamps to Rome'' read Italian newspaper headlines, reviving memories of the 1950s and '60s when the Eternal City teemed with film stars.

A medieval castle in the lakeside town of Bracciano, 40 km north of Rome, has been tipped as the venue for Saturday's wedding, although seasoned showbusiness watchers do not rule out a last-minute change of plan to outwit the media.

''I just came to have a good time in Italy,'' American movie star Will Smith told reporters after landing at Ciampino airport today.

Jim Carrey, Jennifer Lopez, Jada Pinkett Smith, Brooke Shields and ''Mission: Impossible III'' director J J Abrams are among the guests already here for the nuptials. John Travolta, who shares Cruise's Scientologist faith, was also expected.

Shields, who last year had a public spat with Cruise as he criticised her for taking medication to treat post-partum depression, braved the waiting photographers for a shopping stroll around the Spanish Steps.

BESIEGED BY PAPARAZZI The wedding will be a Scientology ceremony as twice-divorced Cruise, an ardent follower of the church founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, cannot marry with a Catholic rite. Holmes was raised a Roman Catholic.

Local authorities said this week Cruise has not sought permission for a civil service either, meaning the wedding could be purely ceremonial.

Cruise, 44, and Holmes, 27, have a baby daughter, Suri, who was born in April while Cruise has two older children adopted during his marriage to Nicole Kidman.

After spending most of their stay in Rome holed up in the posh Hassler hotel, besieged by the paparazzi, the pair threw a party for some 130 guests at a central restaurant yesterday, waving and acknowledging throngs of cheering fans.

The normally sleepy town of Bracciano, already swarming with journalists, was cashing in on its moment in the spotlight.

Owners of apartments facing the Odescalchi castle are renting their terraces to photographers and TV crews for up to 100,000 euros. Bracciano's mayor is charging reporters 1,000 euros ($1,279) for positions overlooking the castle and 300 euros to park a satellite truck.

Reuters PDM VV2009