Juventus secured a 2-0 home victory against Udinese to return to the top of the Serie A table on Sunday.
Spirits were high following their dramatic Wembley comeback against Tottenham in the Champions League in midweek, and Paulo Dybala opened the scoring when he fizzed a free kick into the top corner in the 20th minute.
Gonzalo Higuain missed a 38th-minute penalty, won by Dybala, but soon made amends by setting up Dybala's second shortly after the break.
The win, coupled with Napoli's 0-0 draw at Inter Milan later in the day, put Massimiliano Allegri's men one point ahead of Maurizio Sarri's challengers as they try to win a seventh straight Scudetto title.
Three points from their evening trip to Milan would have restored their status as front-runners for the league title, which they have not won since 1990, but ambitious Inter held firm.
Napoli could even find themselves four points adrift of Juve should the Bianconeri make the most of their game in hand against Atalanta, which takes place in Turin on Wednesday night.
Fiorentina paid tribute to their late captain Davide Astori before and during the 1-0 win over Benevento at Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The club were playing their first game since Astori died suddenly in his sleep at the team hotel last week.
Fans unveiled banners in his honour and players warmed up in shirts bearing his name and shirt number 13, while the match was halted in the 13th minute for applause.
Vitor Hugo headed the only goal in the 25th minute and celebrated by hugging coach Stefano Pioli before raising a shirt with a picture of Astori on it to the crowd.
AC Milan bounced back from their Europa League defeat to Arsenal as substitute Andre Silva fired the Rossoneri to a 1-0 success at Genoa with practically the last kick of the game.
Amazingly it was a first league goal for Silva in Milan colours, following his €38 million transfer from Porto last June.
Lazio suffered a setback in their bid to gatecrash the top three despite Ciro Immobile pouncing in stoppage time to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw at Cagliari.
The Sardinians scored first when Leonardo Pavoletti latched on to a loose ball after Han Kwang-song had headed against the bar.
Luca Ceppitelli, trying to stop Lucas Leiva shooting, put through his own goal to level the scores.
When Luiz Felipe impeded Pavoletti in the Lazio box midway through the second half, the video assistant referee was called upon and a penalty was awarded, with Nicolo Barella scoring.
Cagliari were seconds away from a first win in four outings when Immobile bagged his 24th goal of the season, converting Felipe Anderson's pass.
Marten de Roon's late strike at Bologna gave Atalanta belief that they can still qualify for Europe as they won 1-0 to consolidate eighth place.
There was a surprise twist in the battle to avoid the drop as lowly Crotone thumped high-flying Sampdoria 4-1, Marcello Trotta scoring twice.
The former Fulham striker powered the ball beyond Emiliano Viviano for his sixth-minute opener, but saw the Samp goalkeeper deny him from the spot in the 23rd minute.
However, Adrian Stoian doubled Crotone's lead from the rebound and Trotta made it 3-0 with a tap-in not long before the interval.
Substitute Duvan Zapata gave the visitors some hope in the 70th minute but Viviano scored an unfortunate own goal in the final minute.
Sassuolo and SPAL both remain in the relegation mire after a 1-1 draw in Reggio Emilia.
It could have been worse for 18th-placed SPAL as, after Khouma Babacar had cancelled out Mirco Antenucci's opener for the Ferraresi, Matteo Politano missed a penalty for Sassuolo.