Arturo Vidal and Fernando Llorente scored as Serie A leaders Juventus brushed off Palermo 2-0 with predictable comfort.
Chasing a fourth successive Scudetto, Juventus remain unbeaten through eight games, of which they have won seven.
Juventus rested Paul Pogba, fresh from handing the midfielder a long-term contract, and threatened an early lead when Llorente saw a header deflected away for a corner.
But the home side's supremacy was rewarded by the opening goal. Carlos Tevez took up possession 45 yards from goal, towards the right, and took a direct route to the heart of the Palermo defence.
With a challenge about to come in on the edge of the penalty area, the Argentinian wisely laid a pass off to Vidal, charging in off the far flank, and he sent a low left-footed strike into the bottom right corner.
Stefano Sorrentino had kept Juventus at bay until then but Vidal's finish was too good. The Palermo goalkeeper was beaten for a second time after 64 minutes when Andrea Pirlo's corner from the right found Llorente eight yards out and shy of the near post, and his downward header across goal took one bounce before nestling in the far corner.
Tevez, Pogba -- on for Pirlo -- and Llorente each threatened to add a third Juventus goal, before Sebastian Giovinco rattled the Palermo goal frame in the closing stages.
Gonzalo Higuain's second-half hat-trick lifted Napoli to a 6-2 victory over Hellas Verona in a match that was much closer than the scoreline suggests.
It was in fact the visitors who took a shock first-minute lead at the Stadio San Paolo through Iceland midfielder Emil Hallfreosson and, although Marek Hamsik's brace put Napoli in the ascendancy, Hellas equalised midway through the second half through Nicolas Lopez.
They were level for less than two minutes, though, as Higuain put Napoli ahead and the Argentinian scored twice more, the last from the penalty spot, after Jose Callejon had scored the Partenopei's fourth.
AC Milan missed the chance to go third as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fiorentina at the San Siro.
Nigel de Jong headed the Rossoneri into a 25th-minute lead, but second-half substitute Josip Ilicic fired La Viola level. Two dropped points meant Filippo Inzaghi's side had to be content with sixth place, a point behind third-spotted Udinese, with the visitors down in 11th.
A first-half penalty from Mauro Icardi was enough for Inter Milan to beat 10-man Cesena 1-0 and become the first side to win at the Dino Manuzzi stadium this season.
Cesena goalkeeper Nicola Leali was shown a straight red card on the half-hour mark after bringing down Inter striker Rodrigo Palacio in the area, which resulted in the penalty.
Despite playing with 10 men, the hosts, who gained promotion to Serie A earlier this year, never gave up and had chances to equalise. Inter held on for their first win in four games in all competitions.
Miroslav Klose came off the bench to score the winner as Lazio edged Torino 2-1 in Rome to make it four league wins in a row.
Lucas Biglia put the Roman team ahead when he struck a free-kick past Torino goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet in the 15th minute.
Lazio were unlucky not to double their advantage three minutes later when Antonio Candreva hit the post. Alex Farnerud pulled Torino level eight minutes into the second half but Klose had the last say.
The veteran German striker, who had entered the pitch after half-time, tapped home on the hour mark after Gillet could not hold onto Candreva's powerful free-kick. The victory lifted Stefano Pioli's Lazio to fifth place. The loss, Torino's fourth of the campaign, dropped the Turin outfit to 13th position.
Udinese maintained their unbeaten run at home with a 2-0 triumph over Atalanta.
Veteran forward Antonio Di Natale put the hosts on their way in the sixth minute and later set up team-mate Cyril Thereau for Udinese's second before half-time.
Udinese bounced back from their 1-0 defeat at Torino last time out and climbed to third in Serie A.
Genoa came from behind to beat 10-man Chievo 2-1 in Verona and spoil Rolando Maran's first game in charge of the Flying Donkeys.
Ervin Zukanovic had given Chievo a 36th-minute lead before substitute Alessandro Matri equalised in the 72nd minute.
Chievo suffered a further blow one minute later when midfielder Ivan Radovanovic fouled Andrea Bertolacci in the area and was sent off for a second yellow card. Mauricio Pinilla saw his penalty saved but six minutes from time, the Chilean striker scored the winner as Genoa remained unbeaten on the road.
The outcome at the Marc'Antonio Bentegodi stadium was Genoa's third win of the Serie A campaign while Chievo lost for the sixth time in eight games.