Theodore Roosevelt became synonymous with gunboat diplomacy.
Donald Trump’s ambassador to Italy, however, has adopted a far more opulent approach to winning influence: love-boat diplomacy.
Billionaire entertainment tycoon Tilman Fertitta, 69, is hosting foreign officials aboard his $450 million mega yacht, the Boardwalk, as he travels around Italy on a two-and-a-half-month “Coastal Diplomatic Tour.”
The 383ft yacht features two helipads, two swimming pools, four hot tubs, a fully equipped spa, a scuba room, a putting green and a cinema. Lavish receptions bring business leaders and sports figures together with government officials.
Fertitta, ranked by Forbes as the world’s 312th-richest person, is accompanied on the voyage by his wife, Lauren Ware Fertitta, and their five-year-old daughter, Elle.
When CNN toured the vessel, crew members were polishing chrome railings and fluffing pillows ahead of the guests’ arrival. Fertitta also showed off the floating mansion’s family kitchen and well-stocked refrigerator.
Fertitta is covering the cost of the cruise himself, aside from security supplied by the Italian government. He estimates the coastal tour will cost about $1 million. The voyage is also intended to mark America’s 250th anniversary and spare him the disruption of renovations at his official residence in Rome.
For some Italians, though, the billionaire’s lavish summer at sea is starting to resemble less a Roman Holiday than the final days of Rome.
Tilman Fertitta, 69, with his wife Lauren Ware Fertitta and their five-year-old daughter, Elle
The Boardwalk features two helipads, two swimming pools, four hot tubs, a fully equipped spa, a scuba room, a putting green and a cinema, where business leaders and sports figures have mingled with government officials at lavish receptions
Fertitta aboard his luxury mega yacht in Portofino, Italy, on August 15
A helicopter rests on the helipad of the $450 million yacht earlier this month
Demonstrators clash with riot police during a protest against the visit of US Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta in Venice on July 17
Fertitta’s extravagant diplomatic tour has triggered protests and raised questions over the expense to Italy. When the Boardwalk arrived in Venice last month, demonstrators met the yacht with chants including “No space for billionaires” and “Venice is not the United States.”
Angelo Bonelli, a national lawmaker and co-chair of the Greens and Left Alliance, has called on Giorgia Meloni’s government to disclose the cost of the police, helicopters and boats assigned to protect Fertitta’s yacht. Bonelli estimates the Italian state’s bill could reach $4.6 million.
The Texan, however, maintains that his unconventional brand of diplomacy is producing results.
“You have an ambassador that has cachet, and the Italians like that,” Fertitta told The Washington Post before a yacht party in Bari attended by local lawmakers and senior military officers.
“They like that [they’re] important enough to us that you’re going to come into our town, on your big boat, and pay respect to us and have us in your home,” he said. “That’s what I hear from people.”
The newspaper reported that Fertitta has built a following within Meloni’s inner circle, despite Trump’s recent public disagreements with the NATO ally over Italy’s refusal to support the war in Iran.
“From our viewpoint, his main [asset] is that he’s fond of Italy and feels profoundly connected to it,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said of Fertitta, whose family comes from Sicily.
“The other advantage is that Trump respects him,” Crosetto added. “He’s one of the few who may ring him up and talk for half an hour about anything.”
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The Post also reported that Ignazio La Russa, president of Italy’s Senate and a co-founder of Meloni’s party, had pledged to attend one of Fertitta’s parties but ultimately stayed away. He said he did not want to cause “any embarrassment” while protests were taking place in Venice.
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Fertitta aboard his yacht before hosting city officials in Genova, Italy, on August 19
The enormous yacht moored off Portofino earlier this month
Since arriving in Italy last year, Fertitta has spent $2 million of his own money renovating Villa Taverna, the US ambassador’s residence in Rome.
He is known for blending business, celebrity and politics. His relationship with Trump dates back to 1999, when Fertitta opened a restaurant inside the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Fertitta grew up peeling shrimp at his father’s restaurant on Galveston Island before buying the Landry’s dining chain in the 1980s. The company has since expanded into a billion-dollar empire with more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos and entertainment venues.
He also owns the Golden Nugget Hotels and Casinos and the NBA’s Houston Rockets. In addition, he hosted the reality television series Billion Dollar Buyer.
Fertitta told CNN that he had long wanted to become the US ambassador to Italy because of his Sicilian heritage.
Trump has appointed 90 political figures to ambassadorial posts, a considerably higher proportion than in previous administrations, as the White House relies on wealthy and well-connected allies to represent the United States overseas.
Trump’s son-in-law Charles Kushner is ambassador to France, banker Warren Stephens serves as ambassador to the UK and Leandro Rizzuto Jr represents the Organization of American States.
Even within that group, Fertitta stands out. His estimated $11.1 billion fortune makes him one of the wealthiest people ever to serve as a US ambassador.
Former US ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine, who served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, has criticized the scale of Fertitta’s yacht diplomacy.
“Political ambassadors will mostly use their personal wealth to upgrade the residence,” Bodine told The Post. “But to flaunt it this much? My reaction when I found out that … he was out there in this yacht is that this is inappropriate.”
Riot police stand guard as demonstrators protest against the visit of US Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta in Venice on July 17
Riot police protect the yacht after it docked in Venice in July
The mega yacht in port at Livorno, Italy, on August 17
The tour has attracted attention well beyond the Venice protest. In Cefalu, Sicily, Fertitta’s ancestral hometown, the local bishop presented him with documents tracing his family history to 1566.
“I’m not doing this to show off,” Fertitta told CNN. “I’m doing this because it works for American and Italian relationships and it works for Ambassador Fertitta’s relationships with all the people in these little towns.”
The Daily Mail has contacted Fertitta and the State Department for comment.
