"Of course, the defeat hurts but I think as time goes by, it will be recognised that we had an excellent tournament," he said and few would dispute his conclusion even if there is plenty to improve on if Italy are to be challengers in 2014 in Brazil.
Prandelli's side certainly exceeded expectations and offered plenty of evidence that they are on the right track even if they were, like everyone else, far from the benchmark set by record-breaking Spain.
That fear proved misplaced but the qualifying campaign was far from stellar and the pre-tournament form hardly hinted at what was to follow, especially given Spain and Croatia were in Italy's group.
Another 1-1, this time with Croatia, left all to play for with the final game against Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland and Italy responded well with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli which secured them a place in the last eight.
A quarter-final with England, another team that appeared to be performing above lowered expectations, brought out the quality within the team - Andrea Pirlo was outstanding in midfield and although penalties were needed to dispatch Roy Hodgson's team - no-one disputed Italy's right to advance.
Then came the highlight of the tournament - an enthralling and emphatic 2-1 win over Germany in the semi-finals, with Balotelli coming into his own with two goals, the second arguably goal of the tournament, as Italy's midfield ran the game and their back-line, well lead by the impressive Andrea Barzagli, held firm.
Italy paid for those efforts though three days later when a jaded looking team were dissected by Spain's incisive passing and intuitive movement.
Prandelli's biggest achievement was to create a 'club' type spirit in the squad, welding the players into a genuine team and that will likely mean that he heads into September's World Cup qualifiers without wanting to make many changes.
