It will be hard to truly gentrify this place. There are not too many gentrifier types I know who would be excited to live in a basso: https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basso_(Napoli)

But maybe that will change.

The city would only benefit from more thinkers, technologists, scientists, and artists. You are right that the dream of attracting them may be the seed of a folly that will undermine the culture of the city, which is dazzlingly beautiful and shockingly ugly at the same time.

There are some deep cultural problems here, but gentrification is only going to make these worse. They are related to being ruled by many invaders and monarchs basically since forever. The tech lords seem no different to me. Investment is good, but if it is driven through local channels it will only entrench the current system, whose most powerful participants, who are completely uninterested in improving the quality of life locally.

With the stranglehold the Catholic Church has on the city, this is not going to happen.

People using words like "prosperity" either don't live here, or especially don't work for a living here...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/18/portugal-golde...