Shortly after arriving in Rome in May last year, Tilman Fertitta, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, spent $2 million of his own money renovating Villa Taverna, the lavish residence where the ambassador stays in the Italian capital. He then spent three weeks commuting to work by helicopter from a massive yacht he owns. More recently, he has effectively moved all of his work to another megayacht, where he is now completing a voyage around Italy.
Fertitta, 69, is clearly not an ordinary ambassador. He is the great-grandson of Sicilian immigrants to Texas and one of the wealthiest people ever to serve as a U.S. ambassador. He owns several hotel and restaurant chains as well as the NBA’s Houston Rockets. His net worth is estimated at $11.2 billion, placing him 312th on the list of the world’s richest people.
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Tilman Fertitta, US ambassador to Italy. 'You have an ambassador that has cachet, and the Italians like that'
(Photo: KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty)
In recent months, Fertitta has embarked on an extensive voyage around Italy aboard the 118-meter Boardwalk, a $450 million megayacht, hosting some of the most lavish parties of the Italian summer. In scenes that appear to have been lifted from films about the Gilded Age, government officials and mayors mingled with CEOs and celebrities while enjoying the yacht’s amenities: two helipads, two swimming pools, four hot tubs, a diving room that looks like something out of a James Bond movie, a spa and a gym.
Fertitta is paying for the parties and the voyage himself. The cruise began two and a half months ago and Fertitta describes it as a "diplomatic tour" along Italy’s coastline, saying it is part of celebrations marking 250 years of U.S. independence. It also allows him to avoid the renovations taking place at his official residence in Rome. The Washington Post, which described the voyage as "love-boat diplomacy," reported that the ambassador himself estimated the cruise costs him $1 million a day.
It is not unusual for U.S. ambassadors, particularly in Western Europe, to be political donors who receive appointments from presidents they supported. But such political appointments have generally been made relatively selectively. Under Trump’s second administration, however, 90% of ambassadorial nominees are personal political appointments, a far higher proportion than under previous administrations.
The result is a parade of wealthy people and politically connected figures within the U.S. diplomatic corps, including a new group of billionaire ambassadors: Charles Kushner, father of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and ambassador to France; banker Warren Stephens, ambassador to the UK; and hair-care mogul Leandro Rizzuto Jr., the U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States.
The billionaire ambassador’s megayacht: A 118-meter luxury yacht serving as Fertitta’s base during his diplomatic voyage around Italy
(Photo: Stefano Mazzola, Getty Images)
But even among them, Fertitta is in a league of his own.
"You have an ambassador that has cachet, and the Italians like that," he told guests aboard the yacht before a party in Bari that drew local politicians and military officials. "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."
Despite that claim, the ostentatious voyage has drawn considerable criticism in Italy. The backlash was evident when the yacht docked in Venice last month and protesters greeted him with chants including "There is no room for billionaires!" and "Venice is not the United States!"
Angelo Bonelli, an Italian lawmaker and co-chair of the Greens and Left Alliance parliamentary group, also launched a parliamentary inquiry seeking clarification on the security costs of the tour. The security operation includes police officers, helicopters and vessels that Italy is required to provide for the ambassador, at the expense of local taxpayers.
The government in Rome has not disclosed the cost, but Bonelli estimates it at between €3 million and €4 million. In an interview with the Washington Post, he said that even without that expense, the tour was pointless and did not fit Italian norms.
"Such a display of wealth is frankly odious,” he said. “In Europe, or at least here, it doesn’t work."
But Ambassador Fertitta is unfazed by the criticism.
"It doesn't bother me in the least because protesting doesn't bother me," he told CNN.
He argued that his voyage is actually helping Italian security forces maintain their readiness.
"“Remember, those boats are out there doing something and those people are out there doing something, and it’s a great exercise for them," he said. "Because there’s a lot more important people than me that they protect at times, so they’re getting good practice. But it’s been nothing crazy or unusual. …That’s the opposition’s job, to find something wrong with this."
As ambassador, Fertitta’s job was supposed to be relatively straightforward. At the start of his tenure about a year ago, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was Trump’s strongest ally in Europe. But since then, relations between the two have run aground, partly because Meloni refused to rally behind the U.S. in its war with Iran, and Fertitta has tried to mediate amid their increasingly bitter public dispute.
'You don’t want to get in a verbal volleyball match with Donald Trump'
(Photo: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In an interview with the Post, he said that after the confrontation between Trump and Meloni intensified and the two exchanged harsh words, he warned the Italians that they had no chance of winning such a direct confrontation.
"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," he said. "Donald Trump’s a charming person, and you just have to know … politicians around the world need to know how to handle him."
All of this is taking place as the ambassador continues to conduct his work from his yacht, on a voyage expected to end on September 7. It inevitably raises questions about the intersection of personal wealth and government service, but those are not issues that appear to concern the Trump administration.