This chapter provides a historical overview of Naples’ troubled relationship with the Italian nation state and introduces theoretical considerations pertaining to the study of city and nation in general and of contemporary Naples in particular. I outline and interrogate recent postcolonial perspectives on Naples, identify the limitations of those perspectives for the study of cultural production addressing the relationship between city and nation, and propose a supplementary framework deriving from critical perspectives relating to cultural accentedness. I argue for a consideration of cultural production addressing Naples and its cultural practices as manifesting a Neapolitan-accented expression of Italian identity and addressing phenomena and concerns that are frequently shared at the national level. While this approach is developed with the specificities of Naples in mind, it is intended to serve as a model for critical interrogation of city-nation relations in other contexts, both within Italy and beyond.