This study has a three-fold objective. First, it aims to attain a full picture of the quantitative and qualitative features of the trafficking of Nigerian girls for commercial sexual exploitation in Italy. Second, it seeks to understand how girls manage to free themselves from trafficking and how the main actors engaged in the fight against trafficking (police force, local authorities and territorial services) support them. Last, it aims to understand the internal dynamics of social services, from those engaged in the first contacts to those that deal with rehabilitationand social re-integration and employment, highlighting the difficulties that social service