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This time the venue was the Stadio Olimpico, and this time the opponents were Empoli - but once again the Giallorossi had to overcome a red card to secure victory, as Stephan El Shaarawy and Patrik Schick scored first half goals to secure victory.
Captain Alessandro Florenzi was harshly dismissed for a second yellow card with 10 minutes remaining; setting up a frantic finish that also saw a late Empoli equaliser chalked off after a VAR review.
Nevertheless, Roma warranted their victory - ensuring Ranieri's second spell at his boyhood club got off on the right foot.
Ranieri's reign got off to almost the perfect start, as El Shaarawy notched his ninth league goal of the season (on his 100th Serie A appearance for the Giallorossi) with a brilliant curling effort inside the first 10 minutes.
But Empoli were then essentially gifted an equaliser almost immediately - Juan Jesus inadvertently heading into his own net from close range - and that seemed to change the match; at least until Schick showed great determination and physicality to arrive late at the far post and head Roma back into the lead shortly before half-time.
In the second half Roma had to deal with their share of adversity - beyond Florenzi's red card, there were also knocks to both Nicolo Zaniolo and Schick - and perhaps that limited their fluency somewhat, with clear-cut chances to kill off the game coming few and far between.
And that nearly came back to haunt them as Empoli thought they had equalised in the final minutes - only for VAR to (correctly) come to the rescue.
Ranieri now has four days to work with his team before the next match - as the Giallorossi travel to face SPAL on Saturday.
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