"I wanted to spare you some effort. Regarding what happened three years ago, I think there was a breakdown in communication between me and president Gravina, and I'm sorry about that because talking face to face could have sorted it out.
"I'm in love with the national team shirt, it's like when you lose the woman of your life because you made a mistake. I'm sorry about that, but fate, thanks to president Malagò, is giving me the chance to redeem myself, and I can't wait to do it," Mancini said, three years after walking away for a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia.
Asked about Claudio Ranieri, who turned down the same job a year ago before being appointed technical director alongside Mancini this week, the new head coach saw the funny side.
"I thank Claudio for turning it down last year," Mancini said, laughing, before adding: "I had the chance to speak with Gravina and clear the air, the responsibility is entirely mine. If we'd talked at that moment, none of this would have happened."
On the players he inherits, Mancini pointed to Nicolò Zaniolo's rapid development under him as evidence of how quickly young Italians can improve once given a chance.
"I think there are good young players in Italy, you just need to give them trust and let them play. In three months a young player can change completely. If you remember Zaniolo, when he came to us he hadn't even played in Serie B. At his first get-together he struggled, three months later he was a different player," he said.
Mancini was also asked whether Italy could once again dream of winning a World Cup, a question that led him back to his previous spell's unbeaten run.
"When we started, I remember 90 to 95 percent of journalists rated our team as the seventh or eighth best in Europe. We went four years without losing, and unfortunately Spain has just taken that record away from us.
"I believe Italy, even if we're not favourites, becomes dangerous and one of the contenders if we reach the World Cup. We'll try to build a squad as quickly as possible, the aim is to qualify for the Euros and then we'll think about the World Cup," he said.
Reflecting on the balance sheet of his first spell in charge, which brought a European Championship triumph in 2021 after a wait of almost 60 years, Mancini said the pain of two near-misses since should not overshadow the achievement.
"It depends how you look at it, we won a Euros that we'd been waiting almost 60 years for, and it was a wonderful moment, for four years we never lost, and that's extraordinary. We were unlucky on two occasions, and it just took one penalty between Basel and Rome, but that's football, and it can lead to great disappointment. These things can happen again," he said.
On the strikers available to him now, Mancini said he was not short of options up front.
"I hope the new lads score the same kind of goals Immobile scored in Serie A. Pio Esposito and Kean are younger, I gave Kean his debut and know him very well. I don't think we're in that bad a position in attack," he said.