BARI, Italy — President Donald Trump may be on the outs with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, his onetime pal. But whether in the Bay of Naples, the isles of Venice or the southern port town of Bari, Tilman Fertitta, the Texas billionaire who serves as the U.S. ambassador to Rome, is singing a siren song to Italy’s political classes aboard his 383-foot mega yacht, the Boardwalk.
A gleaming vision in teak decking, the $450 million vessel is hosting the hottest parties of the blistering Italian summer on a 2½-month “Coastal Diplomatic Tour.”
CEOs and sports personalities are mingling with national officials, governors and mayors. They’re bellying up to the Boardwalk’s many bars, ogling its two helipads, two pools, four hot tubs, its James Bond-esque scuba room, and fully equipped spa and gym.
All of it, on the American ambassador’s personal dime, with the exception of state security.
Fertitta — the world’s 312th-richest person, accord to Forbes — can afford it.
With a net worth of $11.1 billion, the great-grandson of Sicilian immigrants is one of the wealthiest people ever to serve as a U.S. ambassador. As he sails the boot of Italy on a floating display of conspicuous consumption, the 69-year-old owner of the Houston Rockets, Bubba Gump Shrimp and Golden Nugget Hotel & Casinos is emerging as the personification of Trump-era diplomacy.
There is nothing new about rich American ambassadors, especially in Western Europe, where wealthy political donors frequently fill plum posts, in part to subsidize astronomical entertainment costs. But in the second Trump administration, 90 percent of U.S. ambassador nominations are political appointees as opposed to career diplomats — a far higher ratio than in other recent administrations.
That’s meant a parade of the rich and politically connected into the U.S. diplomatic corps, including a new crop of billionaire ambassadors, among them Trump in-law Charles Kushner, the banker Warren Stephens and hair care magnate Leandro Rizzuto Jr.
Even in that crowd, Fertitta stands apart.
“You have an ambassador that has cachet, and the Italians like that,” Fertitta said in his thick Texas drawl aboard the Boardwalk ahead of a yacht party in Bari that drew local politicians, military men and others.
“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.”
Still, critics say his “Love Boat” diplomacy raises questions about the mixing of personal wealth and government mission, calling it emblematic of how much norms have eroded during Trump’s second administration.
“Political ambassadors will mostly use their personal wealth to upgrade the residence,” said Barbara Bodine, a scholar on diplomacy at Georgetown University and a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen. “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.”
Fertitta counters that his wealth, stature and personal access to Trump are assets others could not bring to the table — or the bow of a luxury boat, as the case may be.
That a man so wealthy even opted to be an ambassador surprised many who knew him. Still, as ambassador, he is living the Italian American Dream. Fertitta said it was always one of his two great ambitions. After he had ticked off “owning a local sports team,” it was the only one left.
His lifestyle has become tittle-tattle for mainstream Italian media and gossip columns alike.
When he landed in Rome last year, he spent $2 million of his own money to renovate Villa Taverna, the opulent American ambassador’s residence — using a helicopter to commute to work from a previous super yacht for three weeks.
The Boardwalk, his new, souped-up mega yacht, arrived in May. He estimates the coastal tour — in part to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary but also to avoid new renovations underway at the residence in Rome — is now costing him $1 million out of pocket.
Fertitta is wooing a country more welcoming to Americans than many in Europe but where Trump’s attacks have fueled an open riff with his longtime ally Meloni.
The ambassador remembers a dinner at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that he attended with Trump and Meloni, when the two leaders were still transatlantic besties. They got “along well,” Fertitta said.
That relationship fractured over Italy’s refusal to aid the war in Iran — a war Meloni has described as outside international law. When Trump and Meloni descended into a high-school-like meme fight, lobbing retort after retort at each other, Fertitta sought to lower the volume, advising the Italians that the spat was a losing proposition.
“What I’ve said is, ‘You don’t want to get in a verbal volleyball match with Donald Trump’ because he’s relentless, and he’s going to win,” Fertitta said. “Donald Trump’s a charming person, and you just have to know … politicians around the world need to know how to handle him.”
Fertitta insists Trump has “no personal beef” with Meloni and is venting his frustrations over NATO.
“If he’s not giving you a hard time, then you’re not worth the time of day,” Fertitta said.
Publicly and privately, members of Meloni’s inner circle say Fertitta has won them over.
“From our viewpoint, his main [asset] is that he’s fond of Italy and feels profoundly connected to it,” said Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.
“The other advantage is that Trump respects him,” Crosetto said. “He’s one of the few who may ring him up and talk for half an hour about anything.”
Fertitta is known for scattering his billionaire’s pixie dust when needed. Crosetto, a basketball fan, recalled one conversation in which he had mentioned a favorite player of his: Shaquille O’Neal. Fertitta looked at Crosetto and said, “Let’s give him a call!”
When a woman answered and said the retired legend was asleep, Fertitta replied, “Wake him up.” Shortly after, Italy’s defense minister found himself conversing with Shaq.
“There’s no issue with our friendship with the United States,” Crosetto said.
Yet some of Fertitta’s backers, such as Ignazio La Russa, the president of the republic’s Senate and co-founder of Meloni’s party, have resisted the call of the Boardwalk this summer, saying the optics aren’t right.
“I promised him that I would go, but I haven’t yet,” La Russa said. “I do not want to cause any embarrassment for him or the government. If there hadn’t been the events of the last weeks, maybe. … We’ll see about it later.”
To his critics in Italy, however, Fertitta is a symbol of the rise of an American oligarchy, and its takeover of government and diplomacy.
When the Boardwalk docked in Venice last month, several hundred protesters greeted him, some chanting “No space for billionaires” and “Venice is not the United States.” Green Party politicians are demanding to know the undisclosed cost of security to the Italian state, including escort and security ships.
Italy has perhaps a different relationship with wealth than other European countries such as Britain, where aspiration can be viewed as a personality flaw. This is the land where Gucci and Versace helped define loud luxury, and where the political cult of billionaire playboy Silvio Berlusconi once reigned.
But even here, the Italian elite can see American-style displays of wealth as violations of good taste. And while some on the political left have happily sipped champagne on his yacht, others have sharply criticized the tour.
Angelo Bonelli, a national lawmaker and co-chair of the Greens and Left Alliance, initiated a parliamentary inquiry demanding clarification on the cost to Italy from the police, helicopters and ships being used for security during Fertitta’s tour. Meloni’s government has not been forthcoming with an answer and did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.
Bonelli guesstimates the price at “3 to 4 million euros” ($3.5 million to $4.6 million). He also called the tour outright tasteless and out of step with Italian norms. “Such a display of wealth is frankly odious,” he said. “In Europe, or at least here, it doesn’t work.”
Yet Fertitta has succeeded in one thing: creating buzz.
He made headlines by docking in Cefalù, Sicily, city of his ancestors, where the local bishop gave him documentation that traced his family’s history back to 1566.
In Bibione — between Venice and Trieste — the Boardwalk made port while Fertitta took his daughter to an amusement park, and one Italian outlet waxed poetic about a “deep and sincere bond” with the region.
Some Trump ambassadors — such as Bill White, the vocal American emissary to Belgium, who has clashed with local reporters and riled government authorities — have emerged as MAGA ideologues.
Fertitta describes himself as a “conservative” but said he has supported Democrats when he thinks they’re “right.” Three years ago in Houston, he served as finance director for John Whitmire, helping propel the Democrat to victory in the city’s mayoral race.
Asked why one of the world’s richest men would leave Texas and his U.S.-based empire to serve as ambassador to Italy, Whitmire, in an interview, said: “You know, that’s a damn good question.”
Whitmire said he was “surprised” upon first hearing the news but added, “He’s a proud Italian and a proud American … obviously, he knows it’s an honor, and he thought there may not be another opportunity.”
Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report.
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