After decades of corruption, scandal and chronic incompetence have left the reputation of Rome’s city hall in tatters, citizens are rebelling by abandoning traditional political parties in favor of the populist ‘Five Star Movement’, led by a 37-year-old lawyer named Virginia Raggi. Putting her legal career on hold to run for office, Raggi now leads the pack of candidates in her bid to become Rome’s first female mayor. Raggi seems to have her finger firmly on the pulse of Roman citizens, who are tired of the embarrassment and frustration of a city that doesn’t work. “Rome has to first and foremost get back to being a normal city,” Raggi said in a recent interview with AFP, noting that for ordinary Romans, “it is an extremely difficult place to live and that is not right for the capital of Italy.” According to one local report, many on Italy’s left have felt “betrayed” by their political leadership, and have gotten behind Raggi in an effort to bring back some sense of order to the nation’s capital. But the shift toward the populist and anti-establishment Five Star Movement signals more than a reaction to the economic and corruption scandals of Ignazio Marino, Rome’s