Thirty years after making Hands Over the City, Rosi returns to Naples, his native city. The occasion is an anniversary screening of the film at the School of Architecture, where Rosi holds forth for the students. Then Rosi wanders off to explore "his city," irreparably transformed by a senseless and uncontrollable building boom, shady dealings, criminal violence, but still a city of overwhelming beauty and honesty. "With Neapolitan Diary (Rosi) put himself on the screen...as a subject. Not only does he interpret the reality of Naples, but he is implicitly interpreted by it....The sense of futility that has hung over Rosi's work since Illustrious Corpses is still present....But there is humor as well (as when Rosi is mistaken for Vittorio De Sica) mingled with a retrospective mood that almost gives nostalgia a good name." (Stuart Klawans, Film Comment)