De Luca's future looks (again) to Salerno, elections ready in his fiefdom

With his resignation, the mayor of Salerno, Vincenzo Napoli, steps down. He leaves office ahead of the natural deadline of October and in fact opens the door wide to the return to the leadership of the city of the former governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, who became famous precisely as "sheriff mayor", in the front line and in the square personally against wrongdoers and defacements. De Luca does not confirm but sends very clear signals. 'Playtime is over,' he says speaking of his city. In less than twenty lines Naples has encapsulated the reasons that prompted him to resign as mayor - as a consequence he will also cease to be president of the province - initiating a new political phase for the city that will now be followed by a period of municipal commissionership. If elected, this would be De Luca's fifth term as mayor of Salerno. He was first elected in 1993, then in 1997, 2006 and 2011.

But was it De Luca who caused Naples to resign? 'It is absolutely not true,' was the resigning mayor's dry reply, after handing over his letter of resignation in the hands of the secretary-general, explaining the reasons for his choice. The registered document refers to 'new political scenarios that impose radical changes and a renewed propulsive and planning drive'. The former governor's name, however, also appears in black and white in the resignation letter. 'I owe a lot to the concrete help of the Campania Region and President De Luca,' is one of the thanks put on black and white by Naples, who has lived his last day as mayor between the municipality and the province. After assembling the council to inform his councillors of the choice, he stopped by Palazzo Sant'Agostino to take part in the first provincial council meeting after the recent elections (Giovanni Guzzo, appointed vice-president, will be the ferryman). Then the return to Palazzo Guerra to formalise the farewell step. A political act that has provoked strong controversy from the opposition, which is determined to go all the way and ask the competent bodies to monitor what has happened. 'Indecent' is the adjective with which they summarise what happened.

De Luca, for his part, experienced everything from a distance, speaking about Salerno in his usual Friday live broadcast. Without making any reference to Naples' resignation, the former governor spoke about the situation in the city and the interventions to be put in place. 'We need to specialise the interventions of the municipal police, giving an economic incentive to intervene', imagining a repressive line 'to give security to citizens'. De Luca also pledged to 'make everyone understand that recreation is coming to an end'.

Nor did he fail to mention the situation in Naples. 'I hear some imbeciles talking about a Naples that has been marginalised'. According to De Luca, who did not spare the mayor Manfredi any criticism, 'the only thing that does not exist in Naples is a municipality that cares about the city. While the city has received a total of six billion euro in funding from the Region in recent years,' was the lunge of De Luca who, while waiting to understand what his future will be, has already returned to being sheriff.