This chapter addresses print news media representations of the first direct mayoral election in Naples and of key moments relating to the construction of Naples as a beacon of good governance and the potential salvation of Italy in the post-Tangentopoli context. Paying close attention to the ways in which media frames and lexical choices shape public discourse about Naples, I explore how the electoral contest between Antonio Bassolino and Alessandra Mussolini came to be construed as a battle for the future of Italy. I further examine how the subsequent media identification of Bassolino’s two-term administration with the ‘Neapolitan Renaissance’ served to align Naples and the Italian nation in unprecedented ways. The chapter thus sets the scene for the remainder of the book and emphasizes the importance of news media in framing public debate relating to Naples and in reshaping the image of the city in the Italian cultural imaginary at the outset of the Second Republic.