Join The De Blasio Administration, See The World

The mayor, embarking on a “best seeing Italy and not heard” strategy:

[. . .] This month he will embark on a nearly 10-day tour of Italy, the lengthiest out-of-town trip by a New York City mayor in more than 25 years.

The trip will cover two coasts, from Rome to Naples to Venice, and include visits to the ancestral villages of the mayor’s maternal grandparents, in what his aides described as a chance for Mr. de Blasio’s family to learn more about its heritage.

But the mayor’s wife and children will be joined by other important people in his life: his press secretary and his chief of staff, who will accompany Mr. de Blasio, along with a third City Hall aide, to formal meetings with top Italian officials to swap notes about the art of running cities. Mr. de Blasio is paying for himself and his family; the city will pick up the bill for his aides’ airfare and some of their accommodations.

Italy, rarely cited as a model for efficient government, may be an unusual choice for a New York mayor’s first official international trip. But it is of a piece with an administration that proudly blends the personal with the political.

The Italian media have embraced Mr. de Blasio as a symbol of Italian-American achievement and pride, and leaders of the towns he plans to visit are preparing elaborate receptions. When Mr. de Blasio was elected last fall, some of his distant Italian relatives watched the returns on streaming video.

Mr. de Blasio’s team is scheduling public events with the mayors of Rome and Naples, part of the reason other City Hall officials will be traveling with him. (His police security detail will also make the trip.) The mayor’s office declined on Friday to provide an estimated cost of the expenses associated with the intercontinental travel.