Radja Nainggolan stole the show as his team secured a Coppa Italia quarter-final tie against second division Cesena with a 4-0 romp over Sampdoria on Thursday.
Although Luis Muriel hit the post early on for Sampdoria, a sensational Leandro Paredes volley also hit the woodwork at the other end and was a sign of more to come from Luciano Spalletti's Serie A title challengers.
Sampdoria goalkeeper Christian Puggioni did well to bat away another scorcher from Paredes, but the keeper was left powerless when Nainggolan pounced on a poor Matias Silvestre touch to fire a right-footed volley from outside the area into the far top corner minutes before the interval.
The celebrations extended to a subs bench featuring an ecstatic Francesco Totti, and almost returned minutes later when Nainggolan set up El Shaarawy with a back-heel flick that the forward fired just over.
Puggioni palmed a low drive from El Shaarawy round the near post and from the corner Nainggolan blasted wide.
Two minutes after the restart, El Shaarawy won back possession to set up Edin Dzeko for the Bosnian to beat Puggioni at his bottom corner for Roma's second.
Dzeko, twice, then Antonio Rudiger were denied but El Shaarawy made amends with a superbly taken third for the hosts.
The former AC Milan forward controlled Dzeko's 40-yard pass while on the run, cut in past his marker and fired a delicate lob over onrushing Puggioni.
Totti replaced Dzeko on the hour and stung Puggioni's gloves twice. Diego Perotti capped his recent return from injury with a cross for Nainggolan as the Belgian headed past Puggioni on the stroke of full time.
Roma face Cesena, who on Wednesday had on-loan Sassuolo forward Karim Laribi to thank for scoring the winner that sent his parent club crashing out of the competition.
In the other quarter-finals held over the coming fortnight live on Sky Sports, Napoli face Fiorentina and Juventus host AC Milan, who have beaten the cup holders twice already this season, in the league and in the Italian Super Cup final.
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