Dan Ndoye struck twice as Bologna won 3-2, with the winner coming from an injury-time own goal.
Italiano said afterwards: "I immediately think of the 3/4 minutes of the first half in which we were risking ruining a great first half. Then we were good at not going out of the game after going behind: we continued to push, to put balls in, to work on preventive measures.
"Every now and then we have a few minutes of ordinary madness that today were risking ruining a great performance.
"There was an area of the pitch that was almost unplayable, so we had to take action. Today we allowed two counterattacks that put the game in danger. Compared to the match against Verona, today with the same number of players we showed we had character. A great victory, very important for the standings."
He added, "If Ndoye expresses himself in this way, he can really drag the team along."