I moved to Rome in search of the dolce vita but discovered its dark underbelly

“Welcome to the jungle!” It was these four words, uttered by a burly taxi driver picking me up at Rome's railway station, that greeted me to the Italian capital, where I decided to move for my PhD research two years ago. As an Italian by birth and Brit by upbringing, I'd returned to my homeland with giddy optimism, but with a clear warning – as any Roman will gleefully tell you, it's not a city for the faint-hearted. Social media would have you think otherwise. In everything from sun-drenched Tik Tok videos to Netflix rom-coms as sugary as gelato, Rome is depicted as the epicentre of the ‘dolc…

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