Rome ranked eighth among Italian cities for quality of life in 2003, according to an annual survey conducted by the Italian economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Romes rating in the top ten marks a quick rise for the city, which ranked 21st the year before and 57th in 1999, the first year of the survey. Florence came first overall in 2003, with Milan taking second place.

The survey ranked 103 cities according to business and work, crime, population, services and environment, standard of living, and leisure time.

Rome captured third place, after Milan and Aosta, in the category of standard of living, which took into account wealth, pensions and car registrations. One of the categories in which Rome received poor marks was home prices, where it ranked last. The capital ranked sixth overall in terms of leisure activities but led the nation in car thefts last year and had the second-highest crime rate after Turin. For quality of natural environment and city services, Rome was ranked 22nd, a jump of 15 places from the year before.