Bassolino’s Policy and the National Context
The book by Isaia Sales (Napoli non è Berlino. Ascesa e declino di
Bassolino e del sogno di riscatto del Sud, Dalai Editore, Milano 2012) is a
reflection on the rise and fall of the leadership of Antonio Bassolino, the
mayor of Naples from 1993 to 2000 and the president of the Campania
region from 2000 to 2010. The author has been part of Bassolino’s inner
circle and thus offers a point of view from the inside. He tries to balance the
negative opinions on the last phase, signed by the dramatic waste crisis of
2008, with the responsibilities of the national elite of the center-left coalition.
This short essay analyzes strengths and weaknesses of Sales’s contribution.