First-half tries from Christophe Dominici, Cedric Heymans and Sebastien Chabal saw Les Bleus take a 22-3 half-time lead.

The Azzurri scored their only points with a Ramiro Pez penalty.

Pez had entered the pitch after 12 minutes as a replacement for injured fly-half Andrea Scanavacca who had pipped him to the starting role.

The visitors put their hosts under more pressure after the re-start and Chabal added his second try of the afternoon soon after.

Yannick Jauzion bagged a fifth try after Clement Poitrenaud supplied a short pass to the centre following a high kick from David Skrela.

Fly-half Skrela contributed four conversions and one penalty while his substitute Lionel Beauxis' penalty made it 39-3.

It could have all been a different story had Italy taken advantage of their early chances.

The Azzurri missed two easy penalties in the opening six minutes before they shot themselves in the foot, with a stranded pass from Gonzalo Canale and another misplaced pass from Andrea Masi leading to France's first two tries.