One of the greatest surprises of the June 1975 administrative elections in Italy, elections that registered a major shift to the left throughout the country, was the formation of a left-wing (Communist-Socialist) city government in Naples, Italy's third-largest city (population 1.2 million). How was the Communist party (PCI) able to come to power in Naples, what difference has Communistled local government made for the city, and why did the party, particularly in the period 1976-79, face increasing difficulties in maintaining its mass electoral base? These are the questions this article will attempt to answer. It must be made clear from the outset, however, that in a highly centralized country like Italy it is impossible to study local politics outside the broader context of power relationships at the national level; as a result, the analysis will move along two levels, distinct but intertwined-on the one hand, the evolution of the local situation, on the other, the linkages between local and national politics. The example of Communist power in Naples provides an ideal case study of the critical linkages between local and national power and of the limits they impose on change at the local level in a situation, like that of Italy, where the Communists are not yet in a position to impose their own goals and priorities upon the national government. This has been a particularly important issue for the Italian Communists since 1975, when they won control of local government in virtually all the country's major cities, most of which had left-wing majorities for the first time.1 Thus, analysis of the experience of the left-wing administration in Naples, though to some extent unique because of the magnitude of the problems confronting the city, can provide important insights into similar dilemmas faced by the Communists in taking over the administrations of other major cities like Rome and Turin.2 The experience of these cities is part of