The dollar figure is not a problem for Pelosi, whose $260-million net worth has been bolstered by her husband’s suspiciously well-timed stock trades
Now she’s the speaker of the penthouse.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) spent her August recess taking in the rays at Italy’s Lake Como, where she was spotted at the glitzy Villa d’Este. Nightly rates at the swanky Italian guest house can run well past $3,000 per night, its website shows.
That cash is no object for Pelosi, though, who is worth an estimated $260 million—a sum bolstered over her decades in public life by a series of exquisitely timed stock trades by her venture capitalist husband, Paul Pelosi.
Critics have long accused the couple of using the former House speaker’s privileged position in government to enrich themselves through the use of insider information.
Paul Pelosi unloaded $500,000 worth of Visa stock just before the federal government hit the credit card giant with antitrust charges. He also sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock just before a Federal Trade Commission probe, among other instances of well-timed transactions.
Video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows a hunched Nancy Pelosi, handbag in tow, shuffling past a gangway as fellow travelers sunbathed in the Italian summer.
Pelosi stayed at the property from Aug. 25 to Aug. 28, insiders told the Free Beacon.
The Villa d’Este, first constructed in 1567, began as a residence for the Cardinal of Como. It became a hotel in 1873 after passing through the hands of several wealthy families, according to its website. The estate is a “gold-drenched wonder of a luxury hotel, obscenely opulent at every turn,” the Times of London noted in May 2024.
Pelosi, now 85 years old, ruled over the House Democratic Caucus from 2007 until 2023, spending eight of those years as speaker. After Democrats lost their House majority in 2022, she took on the honorific role of “Speaker Emerita,” a title that did not exist before she began using it.
Pelosi’s long tenure—which began in 1987—has not persuaded her to retire. Though she plans to run for reelection in the 2026 midterm elections, she faces a primary challenge from Saikat Chakrabarti, a tech entrepreneur and former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), who may be even wealthier than the former speaker, according to his financial disclosures.
Pelosi is far from the only Democrat to escape the hustle and bustle of D.C. for Lake Como. Maryland governor Wes Moore, frequently touted as a prospective 2028 presidential candidate, was spotted shirtless with his wife aboard George Clooney’s yacht.
The actor, who has stayed at the Villa d’Este, has already offered his enthusiastic support for a Moore presidential campaign, telling CNN in April the governor was “levitating above” other potential contenders.
Clooney has used his Lake Como estate as a staging ground for his political activity in the past. He wrote the op-ed he believes convinced former president Joe Biden to end his 2024 reelection campaign at an office in his mansion, and he has spent time with former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle in the Italian lake town as well.
