Heroes' welcome for Italy as Roberto Mancini's Euro champions return home - in pictures

Fans rejoice after Roberto Mancini's team crush England's hopes in Wembley final

Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini with the Euro 2020 trophy next to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma after the team arrived at the Parco dei Principi hotel in Rome on Monday, July 12. Italy won the Euro 2020 final against England on Sunday.

Giorgio Chiellini lifts the Euro trophy in front of Italy fans after Italy arrived at the Parco dei Principi hotel in Rome.

Italy captain Giorgio Chielliniand manager Roberto Mancini with the European Championship trophy after arriving at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci airport.

Giorgio Chiellini with the winners trophy after Italy beat England in the Euro 2020 final.

Italy manager Roberto Mancini and Giorgio Chiellini holding the European Championship trophy after arriving at Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Italy's European champions received a rousing reception as they landed in Rome after their win over England in the Euro 2020 final.

Captain Giorgio Chiellini and manager Roberto Mancini held aloft the trophy upon arrival in front of joyful fans on Monday, a day after beating England in a tense penalty shootout at Wembley.

Italian supporters continued their celebrations into Monday after spending the better part of the night flooding the streets and setting off fireworks. It was the second time Italy have been crowned European champions and it came after the embarrassment of failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Emotions were high after Mancini's team recovered after conceding the quickest goal ever in a European championship final to equalise and held their nerve to claim a 3-2 shootout victory after a 1-1 draw following extra-time.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved spot-kicks from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho but Marcus Rashford hit the post and Gianluigi Donnarumma kept out Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka to clinch the title.

It was a particularly significant moment for the Italians after what has been a painful period in their history, with the coronavirus pandemic hitting the country harder than most.

Many Italians saw the European title as a timely boost for a country that spent much of the past 16 months in various stages of lockdown. Italy was the first country outside Asia to get heavily hit by the pandemic and suffered immensely, particularly in the spring of 2020 when hospitals in northern Italy were overwhelmed with patients and the death toll soared.

Italy has recorded more than 127,000 Covid-19 deaths, the highest in the European Union.

Manager Mancini understood the significance of the win, stating: "The lads were wonderful, I don't know what more to say. It's important for all the people and all the fans.

"We did well. We conceded a goal straight away and struggled, but then we dominated the game,."