Graziano Pelle spared Italy's blushes as the Southampton striker earned an unconvincing 1-0 Euro 2016 qualifying win over Malta on Thursday to take full advantage of Croatia's slip-up.
Azerbaijan held Group H leaders Croatia to a 0-0 draw earlier on Thursday and, although for a while Malta looked destined to pull off a similar shock in Florence, Pelle bundled the ball home in the second half to see Italy go level at the top of the table.
Despite dominating from start to finish, Italy were forced to endure a great deal of frustration, with several first-half chances coming to nothing in a wasteful display.
Seemingly urged on by some choice half-time words courtesy of manager Antonio Conte, Italy's link-up play in the final third improved, though their luck did not and they looked on as Manolo Gabbiadini struck the crossbar from distance just before the hour mark.
Italy's persistence did pay off eventually, though, as Pelle managed to get himself on the end of Antonio Candreva's cross with just over 20 minutes to go, effectively dashing the hopes of the visitors.
The home side could have added to the score during the final stages, but ultimately their missed chances did not matter as Malta failed to produce much of a response, allowing Italy to end a run of three consecutive qualifying draws.
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