With leaders Juventus unable to play their match at Parma last night due to the ongoing cold snap, Milan had the opportunity to go above them at the summit but instead went down to late goals in Rome.

Hernanes put Lazio ahead in the 76th minute before Tommaso Rocchi capped off a wonderful evening for the hosts with five minutes remaining.

Udinese moved to within two points of Milan and three of Juve with a 2-1 victory over Lecce.

Michele Pazienza, who joined the club yesterday, marked his debut with a goal after just two minutes, but Davide Di Michele brought an in-form Lecce level in the 25th minute.

Serie A's top goalscorer Antonio Di Natale restored Udinese's lead in the 36th minute, earning them all three points with his 15th goal of the season.

Inter Milan and Palermo shared eight goals in snowy conditions at the San Siro with both Diego Milito and Fabrizio Miccoli scoring hat-tricks in a 4-4 draw.

Andrea Mantovani put Palermo in front in the 16th minute, but Milito scored the first of his four goals six minutes later.

Miccoli got his name on the scoresheet for the first time to put Palermo in front again in the 52nd minute before two more goals from Milito turned the game in Inter's favour.

Miccoli brought Palermo level at 3-3 in the 66th minute, but Milito struck again two minutes later to put Inter in front.

However, the last word was reserved for Miccoli, who earned Palermo a point five minutes from time.

The goals were also flowing at the Stadio Sant'Elia, where Cagliari ended Roma's six-game unbeaten run as they won 4-2.

Thiago Ribeiro opened the scoring after six minutes while Mauricio Pinilla added Cagliari's second four minutes before half-time after Roma had rallied to lead through strikes by Juan and Fabio Borini.

Thiago's second of the match put Cagliari back in the driving seat before Albin Ekdal made sure of the points in stoppage time.

Victory for Cagliari snaps a three-game winless run and elevates them in to mid-table, while Roma's first league defeat since December 4 sees them fall further off the pace of fifth-placed Inter.

Napoli and Cesena played to a goalless draw.

Tonight's matches between Atalanta and Genoa, Bologna and Fiorentina, and Siena and Catania were all called off due to heavy snowfall, and there are already fears for several of the weekend's matches with the forecast for very cold weather to continue for a number of days.