But a penalty from Sergio Pellissier and goals from Simone Tiribocchi and Matteo Brighi in the final 12 minutes meant that Inter had to hang on for a nervous victory.

Roma are up to second following a crushing 4-0 win at Parma.

Vincenzo Montella handed the Giallorossi an early lead which Simone Perrotta doubled on the stroke of half-time.

Further strikes from Aleandro Rosi and Alberto Aquilani completed the rout.

Palermo, who started the day as leaders, fell to their first defeat of the season, 2-0 at Empoli, for whom Luca Saudati and Sergio Almiron netted.

Palermo’s miserable afternoon was completed by the late dismissal of Roberto Guana.

Vincenzo Iaquinta added to Fiorentina’s relegation woes with the winner as the Viola went down 1-0 at Udinese.

Fiorentina have minus 16 points – they started on minus 19 following the match-fixing scandal – and find themselves five adrift of Reggina, another team to be punished for wrong-doing.

Reggina could only draw on Sunday, 1-1 at home to newly-promoted Torino.

Lazio’s bid to erase their 11-point punishment continued with a 1-0 victory over Atalanta, Sebastiano Siviglia grabbing the winner midway through the second half.

Siena and Cagliari played out a goalless draw, while the spoils were also shared between Ascoli and Sampdoria, the match finishing 1-1.

On Saturday, AC Milan lost their 100% record after a 0-0 draw at Livorno while Messina maintained their unbeaten start with a 2-2 draw in an incident-packed Sicilian draw with newly-promoted Catania.