'Mamma Mia' - Italy salutes King Claudio of England

Claudio Ranieri says he never had any doubt that he would finally claim the top-flight title that had eluded him for 30 years until Monday night.

And the Italian has identified Leicester's win at Manchester City in February as the decisive moment in ensuring that it happened.

Asked to identify the key victory of the Foxes' fairytale season, the 64-year-old had no hesitation: "Against City, in Manchester," he told Italian daily Il Messaggero in an interview published Tuesday.

"Mamma mia, now it is all true. I always knew I would win a title," Ranieri said as the rest of the Italian media united in hailing a coach they had once branded a perennial nearly man as "the king of England."

"I have won and then some," Ranieri added, before launching a strong defence of his, until now title-less, record at a string of top clubs in Italy, England, France and Spain.

"Everywhere I have been I have achieved more than the targets I was set," he said.

Speaking to national broadcaster Rai from Leicester, Ranieri said Tuesday he wanted to dedicate the triumph to "the chairman and everyone who helped make this fairytale come true."

But he insisted: "Today everyone is paying homage to me but I would like to remind you that I am the same man who was sacked by Greece."

Prior to his ignominious spell in charge of Greece, which ended with a shock defeat by the minnows of the Faroe Islands, Ranieri had failed to deliver titles for Italian giants Juventus, Inter Milan and Roma.

- 96-year-old Mum -

But he remains popular with fans of all three clubs. The ironic humour that has made him much-loved in England is seen in Italy as a distinctly Roman trait.

And there is a particular affection in the capital for a man who worked as a butcher's boy in the Testaccio meatpacking district before embarking on his modest playing career.

Ranieri was back in his home city on Monday to celebrate his mother's 96th birthday.

He had told reporters on Sunday that he would be on the plane back when title rivals Tottenham were playing Chelsea.

But in the end he took a private jet laid on by the club's Thai owners back to England in time to watch most of the 2-2 draw which handed Leicester the club's first English title.

Ranieri had flown to Rome straight after Sunday's 1-1 draw with Manchester United and he described the point obtained at Old Trafford as "Golden. Golden with three exclamation marks."

The draw left Spurs knowing they had to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to keep their title bid alive.

It was also the cue for Ranieri to put a little space between himself and the frenzied atmosphere in a town on the brink of one of the most extraordinary triumphs in the history of sport.

"(I needed) to distance myself," he told Il Messaggero. "I have learned to do that over the last few years."

- 'Grandissimo' and 'Nuts' -

Ranieri has been a regular visitor to his Rome residence all season, popping over on days off to see his optician and dentist while also spending time with his mother Renata and entertaining his wife Rosanna to seafood lunches at Santa Severa, a far-from-exclusive restaurant-lined beach near the capital.

The 3-1 win over Manchester City at the Etihad may have mattered more but Ranieri revealed that his nerves had been tested just as much by the April 10 trip to relegation-threatened Sunderland, where a double by star striker Jamie Vardy delivered a 2-0 win.

"The return match against Sunderland (was the one I feared the most). They gave so much.

"I felt it was a delicate moment and it was brilliant the way the squad reacted."

Brilliant was the unanimous verdict in Italy on Ranieri's achievement.

"Ranieri is the king of England," ran page one headlines in both Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica above stories that were quick to recall how their compatriot had, in his time at Chelsea, been derided as the "Tinkerman" and a "Dead man walking."

The world of Italian football saluted one of their own. "The Italian coaching school has conquered England, see you next year in the Champions League," tweeted Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri.

There was also lavish praise from Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.