Spalletti admits he just couldn't work under De Laurentiis, which was why he walked out on the club after leading them to the Scudetto for season 2022/23.
He told Il Corriere della Sera: "I'm done with the past, but Naples and the Neapolitans will never be my past. I left because I no longer had the desire to sustain this continuous conflict of character with a capable entrepreneur, to whom the city owes so much, but with a very, perhaps too big, ego. Aurelio De Laurentiis.
"The president was the one who put sealing wax on things, on everything, who certified whether a choice was right or not. I was tired of fighting battles over every issue. Whether it was giving a shirt to players who asked for one for their children or having to change hotels continuously for the most disparate reasons.
"Even in this, the Sultan knew how to surprise us. The man, as we know, is very imaginative. Unpredictable. Capable of that extra reasoning that disconcerts you.
"Like that time, at the beginning of my story at Napoli. Our usual hotel was on Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Juventus arrived and we were told that we had to change "house".
"An executive eviction. We were diverted to another hotel in the center, inconvenient for traveling to the stadium, with the natural doubts that a move like that can raise in the players.
"Like that opponents commanding our habits. That year, this forced change occurred several other times: we had to deal with four or five different structures. In short, throughout my history in Naples, I played two games at the same time: one with the opponents and the other with the president. A constant comparison, often on the edge of a clash."
"I would've stayed"
Spalletti also revealed he would've stayed with Napoli if De Laurentiis had shown a change in approach.
He also said, "Even today, many people ask me: 'But if the president had behaved differently then, if he had shown more attention and sensitivity, would you have made a different choice? Would you have stayed at Napoli?'
"A question that I have always let go. The answer is yes, if there had been more human respect, more dialogue and more openness about what it would take to win again, in the end I would have stayed.
"In any case, I will always thank him for allowing me to coach Napoli."