Naples: Manfredi fires the 10 municipal directors

Naples – A political and administrative earthquake is hitting the municipalities of Naples. In a sudden and unprecedented move, Mayor Gaetano Manfredi has signed the dismissal decrees for all ten district directors.

A true "tabula rasa" that affects managers appointed at different times: some in office since 2024, others since 2025, and there are even those who did not have time to complete the first four months of their mandate.

The version of Palazzo San Giacomo

On paper, the measure is presented as a normal reorganization operation. The official resolution states that the flurry of revocations serves to

"proceed with rotation in order to improve organizational efficiency, optimize resource management, and enhance professional skills."

A standard formula which, however, translated from bureaucratic jargon, risks sounding like an indiscriminate and unfair rejection of the entire management team.

The background: the "shield" against the Court of Auditors

Behind the facade of reorganization, however, lies a very different and decidedly more thorny reality. According to consistent reports from sources within the administration, the dismissed directors were ready to take an explosive formal step: sending a letter to all municipal councilors to request, as a precautionary measure, the return of attendance fees collected since 2016.

The managers' move stemmed from fears of being drawn into the investigation by the Guardia di Finanza, coordinated by the Court of Auditors' Prosecutor's Office, which has long been focusing on the legitimacy of those tokens. By demanding the money back, the managers were essentially trying to "cover their backs" against potential claims of damage to the treasury.

The political calculation one year after the vote

The real crux, however, is the political domino effect this request would have unleashed. Had the officials proceeded, it would have inevitably led to legal disputes between the Municipality and individual councilors. According to court records, the existence of a pending dispute with the administration would have rendered the councilors ineligible for election in the next municipal elections, now just a year away.

Daniele Quatrano, councilor of the Vomero-Arenella Municipality, confirms this interpretation:

The problem is that the councilors' appeals would have opened disputes with the administration, making the City Council's counterpart ineligible. All this a year before the elections. Evidently, the mayor chose to sacrifice the executives rather than lose the support of the majority councilors and their constituencies ahead of the upcoming local elections.

Palazzo San Giacomo is currently maintaining the utmost secrecy regarding the case, but the wholesale dismissal of the technicians has violently reopened the debate on the management of the Municipalities and the delicate balance between bureaucratic rigor and electoral consensus.