Fiorentina claimed the outright lead in Serie A with an authoritative 3-0 win over 10-man Atalanta.
Level on points with Inter after hammering the early pacesetters 4-1 last weekend, Fiorentina were able to open up an advantage at the summit as Roberto Mancini saw his charges held to a 1-1 draw at former club Sampdoria.
Fiorentina were handed a decisive advantage after five minutes when Jakub Blaszczykowski went down in the area and Gabriel Paletta received a red card.
Josip Ilicic stepped up to slot home the penalty and Borja Valero doubled Fiorentina's lead in fine fashion following a one-two with Federico Bernardeschi.
Joan Verdu came off the bench to net his first Serie A goal during the closing stages.
Ivan Perisic struck a 76th-minute equaliser for Inter to prevent Sampdoria claiming a fourth win from four at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris this term.
Luis Muriel put the home team ahead six minutes into the second half.
Inter's city rivals Milan endured an evening to forget as Napoli romped to a 4-0 win at the San Siro.
A raft of injury and suspension problems meant the omens were not good for coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and Allan gave the away side a 13th-minute lead.
Lorenzo Insigne was the provider on that occasion and he hit a second-half brace before Rodrigo Ely's own goal completed Milan's misery.
Juventus continued to get their title defence back on track by coming from behind to beat lowly Bologna 3-1.
Anthony Mounier finished with aplomb to give under-fire boss Delio Rossi a fifth-minute lead at Juventus Stadium although Alvaro Morata headed an equaliser after the half-hour .
The Spain striker won a 52nd-minute penalty that Paulo Dybala converted and Sami Khedira marked his Serie A debut with a goal that condemned Bologna to a sixth loss in seven matches.
Roma came out on top in an entertaining six-goal affair at Palermo, a 4-2 victory moving them to within two points of Inter.
Miralem Pjanic, Alessandro Florenzi and Gervinho sent the capital club romping into a 3-0 lead inside half and hour but seasoned striker Alberto Gilardino pulled one back with his maiden Palermo goal.
Giancarlo Gonzalez struck in injury time to set up a grandstand finish before Gervinho completed his brace.
Elsewhere, substitute Keita Balde Diao scored his first goal of the season in Lazio’s 2-0 win over Frosinone at the Stadio Olimpico, Empoli beat Sassuolo 1-0 and Udinese and Genoa shared a 1-1 draw.
