Rome's left-wing mayor, Walter Veltroni, estimated that one million people had turned out to welcome home the conquering heroes as the team held a victory parade through the city Monday.

Men, women and children screamed their joy as skipper Fabio Cannavaro proudly held aloft the gold trophy at the front of an open-topped bus. People scrambled atop stationary public transport buses and even Carabinieri Land Rovers to get a better vantage point as the bus turned into Piazza Venezia.

The team, some wrapped in the Italian tricolour, seemed eager to encourage even greater excitement as the bus inched its way through the throng.

The trophy in one hand, Cannavaro cupped a palm to his ear as if to encourage an even louder response from the crowd, while Alessandro Del Piero stood precariously on a seat and pumped his arms up and down like a rock star.

"They're passing in front of me now, and they're beautiful, very beautiful. Bellissimi! It's stupenda!" screamed a young girl into a cellphone, as the bus toured the historic centre of the city.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi, perhaps indulging in a childhood dream, could not resist holding the cup aloft as he hosted a victory reception for the heroes at his offices earlier.

"We here at home shared with you a tension and suffering without equal," during the month-long competition, Prodi told the 23-member squad, many of whom proudly wore their gold winners' medals over their suits.

"Thanks for reminding the younger generation that achievement is wrought with effort, sweat and commitment," added Prodi. "Grazie. All Italians love you!"

The prime minister, whose beleaguered government is hoping to ride a wave of optimism to revive a near moribund economy after the World Cup triumph, handed each of the players a medal during the reception.

The event began more than 90 minutes behind schedule after the team bus, followed by a cacophonous posse of scooters trailing flags, was repeatedly slowed to a crawl on its way into the city.

The team's plane had touched down at a military airbase outside Rome two hours earlier, and fans who had waited hours to welcome them finally erupted into cheers when Cannavaro emerged onto the gangway with the trophy.

Italy's air force acrobatic team, trailing smoke, painted the sky in the green, white and red colours of the national flag during repeated fly-pasts.

But the biggest reception was yet to come, as hundreds of thousands of fans waited for hours at the Circus Maximus, the venue for a giant victory party after the parade.

Pride of place at the venue was given to a black hearse wrapped in the French tricolour.

Players and supporters celebrated for about an hour, singing the national anthem and other songs, before the team left shortly before midnight followed immediately into the streets by the noisy crowd to a concert of car horns and shouts of joy.

The Italian heroes are to be decorated with one of the state's highest honours, the Order of Merit of the Republic, by President Giorgio Napolitano in recognition of their victory.

With banner headlines like "Champions" and "The World Belongs to Us", the triumphant Italian press hailed the team as legends, saying their victory over France in Sunday's final had deservedly delivered the nation and themselves proper acclaim.

"We are champions because we are Italian," Corriere della Sera, Italy's biggest-selling newspaper, said in an editorial.

From now on "everywhere on Planet Earth, the white, red and green passport of Italy will be stamped with admiration."