My problem with this image is that I really struggle to see anything in it. The composition is problematic for a number of reasons most notably as it lacks a subject and yet is not an attractive or compelling enough as an overall image to work in the "subjectless" manner that some pictures do.
The second major problem is the sodium lighting which is not only awful but hard-to-fix awful. Sodium @ night = noise and the other problem here in particular is that lots of the noise is concentrated in the blue channel which limits options for B&W conversions (any filter options that promote the blue and you get dirty blotches instead of clouds) and especially makes "sexing up" the sky hard. The uninteresting sky is especially problematic here as well given how lacking in interst the picture is overall.
So when I was looking at the picture working out what to do with it my overall reaction was a sense of struggling against the picture to try and make an image I liked. I figured everyone else would have similar struggles and so what we were going to see would be a lot of B&W conversions (easiest way to fix the colour) and some crazy colour treatments looking to wrangle something good out of the image. I even tried some cross-processing type looks myself although its not something I care for generally and its hard to do without it being naff or just horrible.
In the end I did make a 'roided up' colour version (shown below) where I tried to make something looked like how I imagined it looked like if you where there (i.e vaguely like a night scene) and then rachet up the contrast and general funkyness. Utlimately I didn't think this worked and went with a B&W version.
Cropping I think is essential for this picture as you have that horrible wall on the left and also the cropping helps to emphasise the lighthouse and lights more so that start to form more of a subject and focus. Indeed overall my reaction to the picture was that if there was a picture here it was probably 200 yards further along so the lighthouse (which looks like an interesting sort of building, especially at night) was much more of a focal point.
Of the crops I agree with Vuk that #2 is far and away the most successful as it maximises the effect of the diagonals and perspective and I like how it looks like it lowered the viewpoint so it gets more dramatic. Indeed #2 I think is my favoured version by some distance.
Overall though looking at the various versions I get the impression of everyone battling against the picture rather than working with it. Ultimately one can see why, despite having some aspects that one might use again in much better pictures, Cesare rejected it.
Matthew