It was dark on the Ponte Duca D'Aosta, the bridge across the River Tiber directly outside Rome's Stadio Olimpico, as fans burst into song.
On big club football occasions, it's a bridge that has become notorious for ambushes, but this time there was only happiness, as England supporters streamed out of the stadium and back to the city centre.
"Southgate you're the one, you still turn me on, football's coming home again!" they sang in unison. England's manager had just done something that only one Three Lions boss in history had ever done before - reach a semi final at a second major tournament.
Just like Sir Alf Ramsey, who qualified England for the semis of Euro 68, two years after winning the World Cup, Southgate had followed up a 2018 World Cup semi final with another appearance in the last four at the very next tournament.
Only surpassed by Ramsey
That fact surely now makes Southgate the second greatest England boss of all time, a not inconsiderable feat. He won't surpass Ramsey even if he wins this tournament - Ramsey made the Three Lions world champions, and the World Cup is the World Cup.
But England's victory over Ukraine took him past the others - even Terry Venables and Sir Bobby Robson, the other two managers to take the Three Lions to a tournament semi final, and both revered for their time in charge of the national team.
Venables sadly didn't stay long enough to see whether he would have been able to back up England's run at Euro 96 with another impressive result at the 1998 World Cup. Despite leading the country to the semis of Italia 90, Robson had previously had a disappointing Euros in 1988, when England failed to make it out of the group stage.
Southgate has now recorded England's biggest ever victories at both the World Cup and the Euros. After hammering Panama 6-1 three years ago, a 4-0 win over Ukraine took another record, surpassing the famous 4-1 triumph over the Netherlands at Euro 96.
There was a moment before this tournament, and even at the beginning of it, when there was some danger of the national mood turning against Southgate.
Despite all of his achievements since taking over since 2016, murmurings of discontent were starting to surface on social media, after a disappointing Nations League campaign, and a sense that England were no longer playing quite as well as people wanted.
Those murmurings returned after the 0-0 draw against Scotland, and his underwhelming record in club management has always been an easy target for people looking for a reason to criticise. Second tournament syndrome is never an easy thing to deal with for an England boss, when the honeymoon period of the first tournament has worn off and fans are more demanding for results.
But Southgate has proven any doubters wrong, in the same way as star men like Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. By now, it should be pretty clear that he knows what he's doing.
Learning from past defeats
Crucially, he's achieved it by learning from mistakes - not just his own, but of the national team in general, even before his installation as manager of the senior side.
England lost to Croatia at the 2018 World Cup after losing control of the midfield the longer the game went on, so he made sure that didn't happen again at Wembley two weeks ago - selecting Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips to marshal things in the middle, helping the Three Lions to their first ever win in an opening game of the Euros.
Against Czech Republic, he surprised everyone by starting with Bukayo Saka, but it worked - Saka was man of the match, and England won to top the group, the first target for any tournament.
Sterling's two matchwinners in the opening round also rewarded him for keeping faith with the Manchester City, when many might have dropped the wide man. If anything, Southgate's empathetic man management has got more out of Sterling than the great Pep Guardiola in recent months. After a tough period at club level, Sterling has been brilliant at the Euros.
Against Germany, Southgate showed his tactical flexibility, switching to a 3-5-2 - he'd worked with this group long enough, and utilised both 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 regularly enough, that the change was never going to cause a major issue.
England's players were comfortably with the switch, and it helped them record a famous victory - the first time the Three Lions had beaten Germany in a knockout game since 1966. This has been a tournament of landmark achievements.
Against Ukraine, England reverted to 4-3-3, with Jadon Sancho introduced to help the Three Lions go on the front foot from the start. They did just that, dominating possession from the first whistle and scoring inside four minutes, through Harry Kane.
It put England in exactly the same position as they'd been five years ago against Iceland at Euro 2016, when Wayne Rooney's penalty put them ahead, also in the fourth minute, against another team that the Three Lions had been expected to beat.
That night, England failed to retain control of the game from there on. Iceland equalised just two minutes later, and a blind panic set in that never really went away. Joe Hart's error consigned England to the most embarrassing of defeats, forcing the resignation of Roy Hodgson.
Even though he wasn't involved personally that night, Southgate has spoken to the players about that Iceland game, rather than trying to ignore the fact it ever happened. He used it as a learning experience - what did England do wrong that night, and how could they avoid doing it again?
Everyone saw how England had learned from it against Ukraine. Southgate got some criticism for managing the game once Sterling had put them in front against Czech Republic, rather than going on and getting more goals. This time, they did both.
The first priority had to be to retain control of the game, and ensure that Ukraine didn't equalise. England did that expertly, looking calm and mature as they dominated possession in midfield, remaining organised throughout.
Incredibly, they still haven't conceded a goal in this tournament - no-one has ever won a Euros or World Cup without conceding at least once. Spain hold the record, conceding just once in six games at Euro 2012, when you needed to play one fewer match to become champions.
You don't go five games without conceding without having a manager who has drilled his team effectively, so that they all understand their jobs and are fully on board with the plan. England's players are certainly fully on board with Southgate.
With the back door firmly shut, England then ran riot in the second half, adding three more goals. In a way we haven't seen before, they're now getting things right at both ends of the pitch - the defensive frailties of 2018 erased, the slightly less dynamic attack of the early stages of this tournament overcome.
England - and most notably star striker Harry Kane - are peaking just when it really matters. Southgate's decision to rotate selection in different areas of the pitch has probably helped. The fatigue England have often shown at tournaments after a long hard domestic season hasn't been visible in the last two games.
England and Italy the two class acts
Southgate must now devise a plan to face Denmark in the semi finals at Wembley. The Danes, it should be remembered, took four points off England in the most recent Nations League, winning 1-0 at Wembley after Harry Maguire's early red card.
That was in front of an empty arena, though - with 60,000 due to be present this time, most of them vociferous England fans, the environment will feel altogether different.
It will not be easy, but for the first time since Euro 96, there is no-one left in this tournament who the Three Lions wouldn't be favourites to beat.
England and Italy have looked the two class acts at this tournament, and could yet meet in the final. That Gareth Southgate's men delivered such a quarter-final performance in Italy's capital - recording a bigger win the Azzurri had managed in any of their Euros matches at the same stadium - was a statement in itself.
With their set piece threat up and running again, and so many offensive options that Southgate could even afford to play the entire 90 minutes against Ukraine without both Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, no other team remaining has this many attacking threats.
"Hey, it's coming home!" a local exclaimed enthusiastically, in a thick Italian accent, outside the stadium post-match.
Even Italy know how good this England team is now, thanks to the second greatest manager the national team has ever had.
Since 1966, England have spent 55 years searching for another boss capable of winning a major trophy. Gareth Southgate really could be the one.
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