Rome isn't one the happiest cities of the world. At all. It's impossible... Romans are in the middle of a nightmare of disastrous administration, aggressive and uncivilized residents and guests, often interrupted, and highly dysfunctional, public services. I've been to Rome several times in the last 4 years and every time I went there, I found a worsening. Romans are fairly desperate, they want change and often revolt (civilly) against their local administration.
I live in a coastal city and I like it. Anyways, if I had to leave, I wouldn't mind living in a city with no access to the sea, but close to beautiful landascapes, such as mountains, lakes etc. Turin, for example, or some town of Bavaria (Regensburg, etc.), would be ok for me.