Stephan El Shaarawy scored his first goal for Italy since November 14, 2012 against France, 1060 days ago.
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Matteo Darmian celebrated his first goal for Italy by anticipating a pass to smash the finish from just outside the box.
Italy made sure of their place at Euro 2016 with a match to spare by beating Azerbaijan 3-1 in Baku.
New York City FC midfielder Pirlo became the first Major League Soccer (MLS) player to feature for Italy, in a 1-0 win over Malta last month.
Italy remain unbeaten in 48 World Cup or Euro qualification matches – a statistic they will be hoping to stretch to 50 against Azerbaijan and then Norway on Tuesday.
Azerbaijan: Agayev; Dashdemirov, Sadygov, Huseynov, Medvedev; Nazarov, Amirguliyev, Eddy (Sadiqov 66), Garayev, Ismayilov (Mirzabayov 90); Gurbanov (Erat 74).
Subs not used: Zaza, Soriano, Bonaventura, Sirigu, Padelli, Barzagli, Bertolacci, Quagliarella.
Italy were rarely troubled in the remainder of the game and might have added a further goal had Badavi Huseynov not hauled second-half substitute Sebastian Giovinco off the ball as the Toronto striker was in a scoring position. Antonio Candreva laid a ball back to Marco Verratti who produced a fantastic one-timed lob to the Sampdoria forward who flicked a nutmeg shot straight under Kamran Agayev.
Already-eliminated Azerbaijan equalised 20 minutes later when mistakes by Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci allowed Dmitri Nazarov to score.
The Azzurri reacted, with El Shaarawy’s powerfully struck half-volley going over before he shot off target following Aghayev’s weak punch.
When his next chance did come, it could not have been any easier for the Monaco man, who slotted home into an empty net from Antonio Candreva’s generous pass after Graziano Pelle had found the Lazio man with a defence-splitting pass.
The Azzurri restored their advantage before the break with a well-worked move.
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A win for Italy in either of their last two qualifiers would seal their ticket for the championships.
