As U.S. Embassies around the world kick off events to commemorate America’s 250th birthday, President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Italy is promoting his travels on his personal superyacht as an official celebration of his Embassy.
“In celebration of 250 years of American freedom, I’ll be sailing Italy’s coastline—meeting incredible people, exploring the places that shaped history, and honoring my own Italian roots in Cefalù,” Tilman Fertitta announced in a video posted on the U.S. Embassy to Italy’s social media. “And of course, we’re stopping in Genoa, home of Christopher Columbus, the man who connected our two worlds.”
Branding the trip “Coastal Diplomacy,” Fertitta set off on Sunday from Civitavecchia, about 60 miles north of Rome, for what is to be a 13-region tour around Italy aboard his 384-foot yacht, Boardwalk.
The press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Rome did not respond to TIME’s questions about who is funding the trip.
Fertitta’s owns Landry’s Inc., whose holdings includes Morton’s The Steakhouse, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., and The Palm. In 2017, he prevailed in a bid to own the Houston Rockets in a sale that attracted Beyonce’s attention. He recently announced a $5.7 billion deal to buy Caesars Entertainment, and its dozens of casinos.
Fertitta’s ambassadorship didn’t raise many eyebrows in Washington, where it is a tradition for deep-pocketed friends of Presidents to be rewarded with plum gigs in foreign capitals. Feritta, who gave $1 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign through various entities, drew just 14 no votes when the Senate confirmed him last April.
Since he took on the position last year, Tilman has kept his personal yacht—which sports a wine cellar, gym, sky lounge, and full-sized pool—docked north of Rome. He lived onboard it for the first month of his service, and reportedly commuted by helicopter while the official residence of the Ambassador underwent renovations. (He paid for the upgrades, the Embassy said at the time.)
U.S. Ambassadors to wealthier nations are often expected to pony up personal cash to handle major projects, as well as show a talent for soliciting cash from corporations who want to be seen as supporting U.S. diplomacy or the current Administration in particular. It’s not uncommon to see corporate branding at embassy events, including foreign embassies here in Washington. In fact, some U.S. Ambassadors have been seen in recent months actively going around hat-in-hand to raise, in some cases, tens of millions of dollars for the Administration’s Fourth of July-centered celebrations.
Still, a superyacht tour of Italy’s coast to mark the United States’ 250th birthday is far from your typical Embassy commemoration, though it may make more sense in an Administration where bigger is almost always viewed as better. In Washington, D.C., the Administration’s July 4 spectacle is aiming to set a world record for largest fireworks display, with 50 times the number of shells D.C. usually launches for the celebration.
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