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We analyze 20 years (2001–2020) of temperature and salinity profiles at the LTER–MC coastal station in the Gulf of Naples, Mediterranean Sea. Surface and bottom layers show weak increases of temperature (+0.01±0.01 and +0.03±0.02°C/year, 2005–2019); water‐columns budgets (heat, freshwater) show pseudo‐periodic oscillations every 3 to 5 years, and weak linear trends. Seasonal minimum of salinity occurs 2 months later than the runoff peak, pointing to the importance of horizontal circulation in regulating the inshore–offshore exchanges and the residence time of freshwater. Inter‐annual variations of the mixed layer depth (MLD) indicate a shallowing (−1.27±0.38m/year during winter) and a shortened time span of the fully mixed water‐column. A visible decadal shift in the external forcings suggests an influence of winterly wind stress in 2010–2019, that prevailed over dominant buoyancy fluxes in 2001 …