Website won't connect to XAMPP database

Question

Here is my code:

<?php
    $servername = "127.0.0.1";
    $username = "root";
    $password = "";
    $dbname = "website";
    
    ini_set('display_errors', 1);
    ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
    error_reporting(E_ALL);
    
    try {
    $dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=127.0.0.1;dbname=website', $username, $password);
    
    /*$stmt = $dbh->prepare('SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE Username = :name');
    $stmt->bindParam(':name', $name, PDO::PARAM_STR, 24);
    $name = "andrei";
    
    $stmt->execute();
    
    $result = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    print_r($result['Username']);
    
    $dbh = null;*/
    } catch (PDOException $e) {
        print "Error!: " . $e->getMessage() . "<br/>";
        die();
    }
?>

And this is the error:

Error!: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond.

I don't understand what is the issue... the database name is spelt right, I double checked and if it is needed I can even post a screenshot of the phpmyadmin...

EDIT

I see that in phpmyadmin

Server type: MariaDB

how can I change that to mysql?