Theodore Roosevelt built his foreign policy reputation on gunboat diplomacy.
Donald Trump’s ambassador to Italy, however, appears to be taking a far more opulent route to influence: call it love boat diplomacy.
Tilman Fertitta, the 69-year-old billionaire entertainment magnate, has been courting foreign officials from aboard his $450 million megayacht, Boardwalk, while sailing around Italy on what has been billed as a two-and-a-half-month “Coastal Diplomatic Tour.”
The 383-foot vessel is outfitted for spectacle, featuring two helipads, two swimming pools, four hot tubs, a full spa, a scuba room, a putting green and a cinema. Its decks have become a floating reception venue where business leaders and sports figures mingle with government officials at high-end gatherings.
Fertitta, ranked by Forbes as the world’s 312th-richest person, is not traveling alone. Also aboard are his wife, Lauren Ware Fertitta, and their five-year-old daughter, Elle.
CNN, which toured the yacht, found deckhands polishing chrome railings and plumping pillows before guests arrived, while Fertitta showed off the floating mansion’s family kitchen and its stocked fridge.
The cruise comes at Fertitta’s own expense – apart from security provided by the Italian government. He estimates the coastal tour will cost him about $1 million, with the voyage also serving as a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and a way to avoid renovations at his official residence in Rome.
But for some Italians, the billionaire’s floating summer of excess is beginning to feel less like Roman Holiday and more like the last days of Rome.
Tilman Fertitta, 69, with his wife Lauren Ware Fertitta and their five-year-old daughter, Elle
The Boardwalk boasts two helipads, two swimming pools, four hot tubs, a fully equipped spa, a scuba room, a putting green and a cinema, with business tycoons and sports personalities rubbing shoulders with government officials at lavish receptions
Tilman Fertitta seen aboard his luxury mega yacht in Portofino, Italy, on August 15
The $450 million vessel is seen in August with a chopper sitting on the helipad
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 extravagance has sparked protests and prompted questions about the cost to Italy. The Boardwalk was greeted by demonstrators when it docked in Venice last month, with chants of ‘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, is demanding Georgia Meloni’s government reveal the cost of police, helicopters and boats being used for security around Fertitta’s vessel. Bonelli estimates the bill to the Italian state could be as much as $4.6 million.
But the Texan insists his unique style of diplomacy is paying off.
‘You have an ambassador that has cachet, and the Italians like that,’ Fertitta told the Washington Post ahead of a yacht party in Bari attended by local lawmakers and military top brass.
‘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 won fans in Meloni’s inner circle despite Trump’s recent public spats with his NATO ally over Italy’s refusal to aid the Iran war.
‘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 hails 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 Ignazio La Russa, president of Italy’s Senate and a co-founder of Meloni’s party, promised to attend one of Fertitta’s parties but stayed away, saying he did not want to cause ‘any embarrassment’ amid protests in Venice.
Money talks: Fertitta with Donald Trump in the Oval Office
Fertitta pictured aboard his yacht ahead of hosting city officials in Genova, Italy, August 19
The colossal yacht moored of Portofino earlier this month
Fertitta has spent $2 million of his own money renovating Villa Taverna, the ambassador’s residence in Rome, after arriving in Italy last year.
He has a reputation for combining business with celebrity and politics. His relationship with Trump began in 1999 when he set up a restaurants inside the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Fertitta, who grew up peeling shrimp at his father’s restaurant on Galveston Island, bought dining chain Landry’s in the 1980s. It has since become a billion-dollar behemoth with more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos, and entertainment spots.
He also owns the Golden Nugget Hotels and Casinos and the NBA’s Houston Rockets, and was the host of the reality television show Billion Dollar Buyer.
He told CNN that he has long desired the Italian ambassador job because of his Sicilian ancestry.
Trump has placed 90 political appointees in ambassador roles, a significantly higher ratio than previous administrations, as the White House bets on wealthy and well-connected figures to represent the US abroad.
Trump’s in-law Charles Kushner serves as ambassador to France, banker Warren Stephens is ambassador to the UK and hair care magnate Leandro Rizzuto Jr. represents the US in Norway.
Fertitta is unusual even among that lineup, with his $11.1 billion fortune making him one of the wealthiest people ever to serve as a US ambassador.
Former US ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine, who served under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, disapproves of the lavish cruising.
‘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 gather to protest against the visit of US Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta in Venice on July 17
Riot cops protecting the yacht in July when it docked in Venice
The mega yacht at port in Livorno, Italy, on August 17
The tour has nonetheless generated plenty of attention, from the protest in Venice to Fertitta’s ancestral home of Cefalù in Sicily, where the local bishop gave him documents tracing his family history back to 1566.
Fertitta told CNN: ‘I’m not doing this to show off. 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.