Before Mar-a-Lago, there was Villa Certosa. Donald Trump bought his Florida estate in 1985, a few years before the late Silvio Berlusconi acquired his Brobdingnagian property on the northeastern coast of Sardinia, but it was Italy’s bombastic prime minister who provided the contemporary model of a villa where international politics and frat-house spirit merged. During the 2000s, Villa Certosa became a global catalyst of international political discussion, while remaining at a comfortable remove from the protocols and formalities of the traditional places of government.
For decades, Mar-a-Lago existed merely as the holiday home of a real-estate developer of dubious taste. Villa Certosa set the modern-day political template for turning a valuable resort into a center of power and entertainment. Berlusconi insisted that the estate be officially designated as an “alternative maximum-security site for the safety of the prime minister,” and the activities that took place there were automatically classified, and equipped, accordingly, down to a nuclear shelter. Years later, Mar-a-Lago’s restrooms were reportedly stacked with boxes of classified materials moved there at the end of Trump’s first term. By a remarkable coincidence, both estates have exactly 126 rooms.
