Their relegation-threatened visitors held Inter at bay in the first half but it did not take long for the champions to seal the game in the second.

Brazilian Maxwell opened the scoring before Hernan Crespo killed off his former club with the second to worsen Parma's plight and bring closer still the day when Inter are crowned champions.

The Nerazzurri's dominance this season has been staggering and they have taken 64 points from the last 66 on offer with February's 1-1 draw with Udinese the only time they have failed to win in Serie A since October 22.

Inter made a bright start and Esteban Cambiasso's left-footed shot in the early minutes did not miss by much.

However, Parma's loan signing from Manchester United, Giuseppe Rossi, was much in evidence in the early stages and first he forced a save from Francesco Toldo before then firing a shot over the bar.

In between those two strikes, Toldo had to be alert to keep out a shot from Igor Budan.

The game was halted for a couple of minutes following a collision between Marco Materazzi and Budan with the Italian World Cup winner needing treatment.

Materazzi showed that there had been no damage done when he forced a save from Luca Bucci with his shot and now Inter began to step up the pace.

Adriano's left-footed shot looked goalbound before coming off a Parma player and then he was called offside in a marginal decision.

Bucci made another save from Cambiasso as Inter ended the half strongly.

However, the match was still deadlocked when the teams went to the dressing rooms for the interval with Parma showing the resilience that has been notable since Claudio Ranieri took over as boss when the team was already in dire relegation straits.

Early in the second half, Rossi had the frustrating experience of watching his shot rebound off team-mate Budan and within minutes Inter took the lead at the San Siro.

Maxwell exchanged passes with Crespo before beating Bucci to open the scoring.

Dejan Stankovic fired wide as the hosts looked to kill off the game with a second.

Adriano almost created an opening for fellow Brazilian Maicon whose shot failed to find the target.

The second goal then arrived with Adriano playing the role of provider as Crespo made it 2-0.

Parma could have got back in the game but Andrea Gasbarroni's first shot was saved before his second was cleared off the line by Maicon.

Adriano almost scored a third for Inter when his head rattled the crossbar but in the end Roberto Mancini's side had to settle for a 2-0 scoreline in a season where they have been a class apart from the opposition.