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Abstract: This paper aims to describe the variety of opportunities for employment and social integration available to a young man like Caravaggio on his arrival in Rome. ‘Immigrants’ were by no means unusual in Rome between the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries and as such did not face overwhelming difficulties. Nonetheless, if he were to find employment meeting his expectations, a man from out of town would need to have access to a network capable of providing an introduction to master craftsmen, patrons and protectors. Such networks were generally based on a common place of origin, but the capital, with it’s multiple layers and social complexity, offered other avenues: shared living or working spaces, membership of a confraternity, or friendship with colleagues apprenticed to the same artisan’s workshop all provided the opportunity to form relationships which could prove useful. A young man wishing to embark on a career needed to find work, but he would also need to find a place to live, as well as someone willing to loan him money, and if, as often happened, he found himself in trouble with the law, he would find it extremely helpful to have a guarantor and someone who would be in a position post bail.