Bologna won 1-0, with Santiago Castro hitting a late winner. It means the Felsinei are in a Coppa semifinal for the first time in 26 years.
Italiano later said: "We played for history and we succeeded. I told the lads that in any case we had to make history, we put Bologna in the conditions to experience a great match, now we will prepare ourselves well. We tried not to suffer, we found the episode.
"I think it gives you self-esteem and awareness, you can see that there is growth. The Champions League has given us a big hand, this is a group that is constantly growing, from the quality of the players to the objectives that the club sets before you. It is not easy to play in Bergamo with this personality, they were coming off great performances. If you grow in terms of attitude it can only do good, if you are able to do it at home and away, it is really good.
"This is a beautiful moment, it always pushes you to give your best, this is a great strength that people pass on to you. The objectives? The club had this dream of getting as far as possible in the Italian Cup. At this moment we have achieved the first objective, now we await the next opponent."
It's the seventh win in eleven previous games against Gasperini for Italiano, who added: "Honestly, suffering the whole game is not good, that's what I try to convey when we face teams like Atalanta. Then there are the incidents, the goalkeeper's saves, with Gasperini there have always been intense and tense games, beautiful."