Rome like every other major city can be very reasonable. But you got to be clever and not be drawn in by the big piazza with lots of tourists. Go off the beaten track, be aware and go where romans go. You’ll be amazed by how good value for money it can be.
We had 1 very upmarket meal in Rome, the rest we didn't find that expensive and generally avoided the really touristy places.
Done Madrid, Seville, San Sebastian, Porto, Lisbon, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma in recent years (as well as Rome). Seville the best in Spain by a mile and Porto was great too. You could go to Seville for a fortnight and not see everything or drink and eat on the same areas. Loved it