Vieira headed in a soft pass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the fifth minute. Palermo equalized in the 25th after an own-goal by Inter defender Marco Materazzi, but Luis Antonio Jimenez scored the winning goal in the 36th.

Inter leads the league with 67 points and AS Roma, which defeated AC Milan 2-1 Saturday, has 61. Juventus, in third place with 54 points, beat visiting Napoli 1-0.

Inter went through a turbulent week in which the team was knocked out of the Champions League by Liverpool. Immediately after that game, coach Roberto Mancini said he would resign at the end of the season, a pledge he rescinded the following day after meeting with Inter owner Massimo Moratti.

'We got three very important points today, maybe the most important of the season,' Mancini said. 'They are key points because they come after what happened this week and after Roma's victory yesterday.'

Ibrahimovic assisted on Inter's first goal but the Sweden striker, who has 15 goals in Serie A this season, has failed to score since Jan 20.

'Let's hope the attackers get out of their rut and begin scoring from the next game,' Mancini said.

Juventus got a goal from substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta in the 88th minute in Turin.

The hosts had more chances, but had been unable to score until Iaquinta took a pass from Alessandro Del Piero and beat Napoli goalkeeper Matteo Gianello with a low shot from inside the area.

In an effort to get the elusive goal, Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri brought Iaquinta on in the 59th minute, putting the striker on for midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic.

Gianello had made several diving saves, including one in the 62nd on a shot from Tiago Mendes, who a minute later shot over the crossbar when he had an open goal.

Napoli has been inconsistent this season, but it has played its best against top teams and two weeks ago handed Inter its first league defeat of the season.

But at Turin's Stadio Olimpico, Napoli had trouble creating chances in the absence of offensive spark Macelo Zalayeta, who is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament last week.

Napoli's best chance came in first-half injury time when Gyorgy Garics had a shot on goal from inside the area, but missed wide.

Also on Sunday, Fiorentina defeated Genoa 3-1 with a goal and assist from Adrian Mutu who returned after missing three weeks with an injury. The Romania striker has 15 league goals this year.

The win strengthened Fiorentina in fourth place with 50 points, four more than Milan.

Fiorentina showed no signs of fatigue from the penalty shootout win against Everton on Wednesday in the UEFA Cup that put the team through to the quarterfinals.

Livorno and Parma drew 1-1 in a relegation zone match. For Parma it was the first game under new coach Hector Cuper, who joined the team Tuesday. Cuper led Valencia to the Champions League final in 2000 and '01 before moving to Inter.

'I can't perform miracles in three days but we worked a lot this week, including on the psychological state of the team because there is still a lot of nervousness,' Cuper said.

In Bergamo, Simone Padoin scored his first two goals of the season and Cristiano Doni got his 11th as Atalanta beat Empoli 4-1.

Also on Sunday, it was: Cagliari 3, Torino 0; Reggina 4, Siena 0; and Sampdoria 3, Catania 1. Udinese and Lazio drew 2-2 on Saturday.

The next round of Serie A games will be on Wednesday with Inter at Genoa and Roma facing Lazio in a derby match. -- AP