There are football titles, and then there are days when an entire city seems to breathe in unison.
June 17, 2001, was one such day. Rome chaotic, ancient, theatrical Rome, came to a standstill as AS Roma sealed a Scudetto that felt less like a trophy and more like a coronation.
The Eternal City had waited 18 long years for its crown. Streets overflowed with red-and-yellow flags, horns blared like Roman trumpets, and generations who had never seen a championship suddenly found themselves inside a moment of history. It wasn’t just a win; it was a cultural event.
At the heart of the story were warriors who became legends.
Hernan Crespo, yes, an opposition striker during most of his Serie A journey finished that season as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals, his brilliance indirectly shaping Roma’s title narrative. Meanwhile, inside the Roman ranks, Gabriel Batistuta, Francesco Totti, Vincenzo Montella, Cafu, Walter Samuel and Emerson formed a side that felt sculpted for the ages. Fabio Capello, relentless and calculating, coached them with a precision that made every match feel like destiny inching closer.
When the final whistle blew on that magical day, the roar from the Studio Olimpico travelled across terraces, piazzas, and balconies. Rome didn’t celebrate a football match, Rome celebrated itself.
Yet for all their passion and prestige, Roma remain one of Italian football’s most curious paradoxes: a giant with only three Scudetti in nearly a century of history. The club that gave the world Totti, the gladiator-prince of the modern era, has lived far too long on the memories of that 2001 triumph.
TWO DECADES LATER, A FLICKER OF HOPE
Now, 24 years since that last Scudetto, something unusual is happening again in the capital. The optimism cautious, fragile, but undeniably alive has returned.
Thirteen matches into the current Serie A season, Roma sit 4th with 27 points, just a single point behind league-leaders AC Milan on 28. In a league known for late twists and long battles, one point is nothing. A heartbeat. A whisper.
And the city has begun to ask the question it hasn’t dared to ask aloud for years:
CAN ROMA REALLY WIN THE SERIE A TITLE AGAIN?
That hope isn’t built on fantasy. It’s built on organisation, discipline, and a squad beginning to rediscover its rhythm. The Olimpico is full again. The football feels purposeful. The team, after years of transition, looks unified.
Most importantly, the supporters, the lifeblood of any Roman miracle, can feel something shifting. The dream is not outlandish; it is simply unfinished business.
CAN ROMA WIN THE SCUDETTO THIS SEASON?
In football, logic rarely survives contact with belief. Roma know what it takes to climb a mountain, and the table suggests they are close, so close, to its summit.
If momentum aligns, if key players stay fit, if the team keeps its identity intact then yes, Rome can dream again. The path is narrow, but not impossible.
And in Rome, impossible is just another story waiting to become legend.
Because once upon a time, in 2001, the city learned that when the Giallorossi rise, even the Eternal City stops to watch.