Roma went to the top of Serie A on Sunday when they extended their perfect start to the season to three out of three with a 2-0 win over Reggina.
Juventus went into the weekend's action in the lead on goal difference but slipped to fourth after suffering a shock 1-0 loss, their first defeat of the new campaign, to Udinese in Turin.
Inter Milan climbed four places to second with their 2-0 win, the second of the season, over San Siro visitors Catania.
Juventus looked to have a better chance than Roma of maintaining an unblemished record for the season as the Romans had mustered only one win in their last four visits to Reggina.
But they boosted that record after Brazilian Juan marked his topflight debut in the best possible way, putting Roma in front in the 50th minute with Francesco Totti adding the second six minutes from time.
Roma's cause had not been helped when goalkeeper Alexander Doni failed to come back for the second half after suffering an injury, the gloves being taken by under-21 international Gianluca Curci.
The result was a timely confidence booster ahead of Roma's opening Champions League group tie against Dinamo Kiev.
"What interests me now is that my players keep their feet on the ground," coach Luciano Spalletti said. "There are clubs with far greater resources than us. And like us there are other teams who can fight for the title, like Fiorentina."
In Turin, Juventus -- who face Roma next weekend -- had a frustrating afternoon with Alessandro del Piero hitting the post three times against a Udinese side that had proved capable of holding Inter to a 1-1 draw at the start of the campaign, only to crash 5-0 to Napoli.
There was to be no such repeat of that lopsided loss here with Udinese taking the lead in the opening seconds of the second half in a three player move started by Giuseppe Dossena and completed by the unmarked Antonio Di Natale's header.
In other Serie A matches on Sunday, it was:
* Napoli 2, Sampdoria 0
* Parma 1, Cagliari 1
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