Adriano got the visitors on the board inside of one minute and Hernan Crespo scored six minutes after the restart to give Inter a hard-fought three points, allowing the squad to maintain its 11-point cushion over Roma in the Serie A standings.

Dejan Stankovic had a fine match for Inter, playing in creative fashion and setting up numerous chances. The midfielder provided Adriano with the opener less than one minute into the match. He fed a pass to the Brazilian striker, who collected the ball on the left and carried it towards the box. After creating a little space, Adriano held off a defender and fired a rocket towards the far post. The ball sailed past keeper Benito Sicignano and kissed off the post and in.

Despite the early goal, Chievo didn't fold and actually called keeper Julio Cesar into action on a number of occasions in the first half.

However, the hosts found themselves down two goals just six minutes after the break. Stankovic once again had a hand in the goal, heading the ball to Crespo. The striker brought it down, beat defender Andrea Mantovani and fired a low right-footed shot past Sicignano to double Inter's advantage.

Kamil Kosowski had a chance to hit back for Chievo minutes later when he tried to lob a shot over Cesar, but the ball ended up on top of the net, narrowly missing.

Chievo was unable to muster a serious threat the rest of the way and was left to absorb its third loss in four matches.

In other Serie A play on Sunday, Roma kept pace with Inter as they recorded a 3-0 win over Parma, AC Milan got a goal from Marek Jankulovski in the 68th minute to slip past Livorno 2-1 and Atalanta and Lazio battled to a 0-0 draw. Cagliari and Siena played to a 2-2 tie at Stadio San Elia, Fiorentina scored a pair of first-half goals to hold off Udinese 2-0, Catania Calcio and Messina finished 1-1, while Empoli's Sergio Almiron scored the lone goal in a 1-0 defeat of Palermo. Sampdoria downed last-place Ascoli 2-0 and Rolando Bianchi scored twice to lead Reggina past Torino 2-1.