Juventus recovered to beat fierce rivals Fiorentina 3-2 in Turin but they will have to wait a little longer to claim the Serie A title thanks to results elsewhere.
Gonzalo Rodriguez's early penalty looked like spoiling Juve's party -- a celebration only possible if Lazio failed to beat Parma, which they would manage with four unanswered goals -- but Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez turned the game on its head before half-time.
After the break Tevez doubled up, reaching 20 league goals for the season, yet La Viola provided a late scare thanks to Josip Ilicic's superb free-kick after Rodriguez had missed a second penalty.
With five games remaining, Massimiliano Allegri's Bianconeri lead Lazio by 14 points.
Lazio extended the title race with a 4-0 victory over Parma, whose long-awaited relegation to Serie B was mathematically confirmed by the defeat.
The Gialloblu have propped up the table for most of the season, with financial meltdown and points deductions cutting them even further adrift, but a recent flurry of positive results had kept faint hopes of a miraculous escape alive -- at least until 16 minutes into Wednesday's game at the Stadio Olimpico.
Marco Parolo, Miroslav Klose and Antonio Candreva hit three goals in six first-half minutes to condemn Parma to the second tier, with substitute Balde Keita extinguishing any unlikely attempts at a last-gasp comeback as time ticked away in Rome.
Roma tightened their grip on the last Champions League qualifying place with a 3-0 triumph at Sassuolo.
Seydou Doumbia put the visitors on their way in the sixth minute before Alessandro Florenzi doubled Roma's lead in the 27th minute as the Giallorossi scored more than one goal in a league game for the first time since February 8.
Miralem Pjanic put the game beyond Sassuolo's reach by scoring the third with 16 minutes to go.
AC Milan fans spelled out their deepening frustration over the club's malaise before a 3-1 home defeat to Genoa.
The 18-time Italian champions have spent most of the current season in mid-table and look destined to be there in five games' time when this campaign ends.
Europa League-chasing Genoa built a two-goal lead at San Siro through Andrea Bertolacci and M'Baye Niang before Philippe Mexes inspired a glimmer of hope with a classy response shortly after the hour.
However, when Jeremy Menez saw red to further weaken Milan's forward line, their race was run and Genoa rubbed salt in the wounds by converting a late penalty through Iago Falque.
Midweek results leave Filippo Inzaghi's men five points adrift of city rivals Inter, who are ninth, while the nearest European berth is eight points away.
Sampdoria missed an opportunity to strengthen their grip on a place in Europe next season as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Hellas Verona.
Despite losing Afriyie Acquah to a red card, Sampdoria took the lead in the 65th minute through Lorenzo De Silvestri.
Luca Toni equalised minutes later, though, to deny the Blucerchiati a win which would have given them a three-point cushion over sixth-placed Genoa in the search for a place in the Europa League next season.
Europa League hopefuls Torino followed up their victory over Juventus in the Turin derby with a 2-2 draw at Palermo.
Roberto Vitiello gave Palermo the lead in the 10th minute but Bruno Peres brought Giampiero Ventura's men back on terms almost immediately.
Luca Rigoni restored the Rosaneri's advantage with Maxi Lopez levelling and scoring another goal, which was ruled out, as the sides took a point each keeping Torino within three points off the top five.
Chievo beat relegation-threatened Cagliari 1-0 to ensure themselves of Serie A football next season.
Riccardo Meggiorini struck the only goal of the game at the Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium in the 11th minute to hand Chievo three vital points and push Cagliari closer to the drop.
Cagliari had two players sent off late in the game to complete another miserable night.
Mauricio Pinilla equalised eight minutes from time as Atalanta drew 2-2 at Cesena to clinch a vital point to boost their survival bid.