Roma were tight at the back and flowing up front and it was no surprise when skipper Francesco Totti volleyed in the opener from Vincenzo Montella's corner after just 16 minutes.

Bologna, managed by former Roma coach Carlo Mazzone, were 2-0 down on 33 minutes when Antonio Cassano dribbled through to set up Montella for a simple tap-in.

Christian Panucci made it 3-0 five minutes later with Cassano wrapping up the points four minutes into the second half.

"Our first half performance was truly wonderful, full of first touches and intelligent play," said Roma coach Fabio Capello.

Roma have 24 points and are two behind Juventus who defeated Modena 2-0 on Saturday.

European champions AC Milan are third, also with 24 points but behind on goal difference, thanks to a 2-0 win at Chievo.

Andrei Shevchenko celebrated his 100th goal for Milan when he headed in a Gennaro Gattuso cross on the stroke of half-time. The Ukrainian striker also hit the second in the 50th minute when he converted a through ball from Rui Costa.

Inter Milan are fourth after their 6-0 demolition of Reggina on Saturday.

Lazio moved into fifth place with a 3-1 home win against Perugia but the match will be remembered for four red cards - three of them for Perugia - as well as an ugly touchline brawl.

Dejan Stankovic gave Lazio the lead in first half injury time before Fabio Grosso levelled just after the hour mark.

But their hopes of a fightback were hit when Suleymane Diamoutene was sent off for a late challenge on Guiseppe Favalli.

The match was heading for a 1-1 draw until the encounter exploded in the dying moments.

Perugia's Giovanni Ignoffo and Sergio Conceicao of Lazio were sent off and that led to a touchline brawl involving players and officials.

When peace resumed, Bernardo Corradi hit a spectacular drive to make it 2-1 before Ze Maria brought down Stankovic who had to be stretchered off.

The Brazilian amazingly was not sent off but Perugia's Marco Di Loreto was as he became the fourth man to be red-carded for kicking Liverani before Simone Inzaghi hit the third goal in the third minute of injury time.

Perugia president Luciano Gaucci said the sending off of three of his players represented a conspiracy to have his team relegated to Serie B.

"We have had enough of referees who are blatantly pushed to favour certain teams. This referee was either startlingly incompetent or intentionally damaging to our side."

On Saturday, David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved's goals gave Juventus a 2-0 win at Modena as the defending champions registered their eighth win in ten games.