England were severely tested by Italy at Twickenham but five second-half tries was enough to see them fight back from 10-5 down to win 36-15.
Dan Cole crossed first for England but the Italians led at half-time after Giovanbattista Venditti was first to a Tommaso Allan penalty which struck the post.
Follow the RBS 6 Nations on Facebook and Twitter
Quick-fire tries from Danny Care and Elliot Daly had England in front but Michele Campagnaro brought Italy back within two points with a fine individual score.
But two tries from Jack Nowell and one from Ben Te’o ensured England maintained their unbeaten record under Eddie Jones and have three wins from three in the 2017 RBS 6 Nations.
The game was marked by Italy’s refusal to commit players to the ruck, allowing them to rush up in defence, and frustrating the England game plan.
That tactic worked for the first 40 minutes, but after the break England played more directly and were able to ease home.
Italy had the first attempt for points but Allan put his penalty kick to the left of the posts and England struggled to get out of their own half early on.
Allan had a second shot at breaking the deadlock but his penalty from the right side was again wayward.
A penalty then saw England go for the line out rather than the three points and it paid dividends as a driving maul saw prop Cole touch the ball down but Farrell, winning his 50th England cap, missed the conversion.
Trailing 5-0, Italy twice chose to kick to the corner when awarded penalties by referee Romain Poite and the second time they were inches from the line with a driving maul only to fumble the ball.
A further penalty saw Parisse again turn down the posts but after numerous phases, Allan dropped into the pocket and slotted a drop goal to make the score 5-3.
Click here to play the 2017 RBS 6 Nations Fantasy Game
Then as the first half drew to a close Allan hit the post with his penalty kick but Venditti was first to react to the bouncing ball and stormed over the try line to give Italy the lead. Allan added the extras and Italy led 10-5 at half-time.
Care brought England level within four minutes of the re-start as he took a quick penalty before darting between Marco Fuser and Guilio Bisegni to dive over. Farrell missed the conversion to leave the scores level at 10-10.
And the home side were back in the lead barely two minutes later as James Haskell capitalised on Italy’s tactic not to put anyone into the ruck to get England into the visitors 22.
Te’o then fed Daly who ran in in the corner and Farrell’s successful conversion made the score 17-10 to the hosts with 47 minutes gone.
Italy weren’t finished though as Campagnaro slipped through numerous English tackles to touch down for Italy’s second try. Full-back Edoardo Padovani missed the conversion which would have brought the visitors level.
Farrell missed another penalty before Carlo Canna was forced into a last-ditch hack to clear with Daly bearing down on the line to prevent a fourth try.
But England weren’t to be denied as, after a driving maul, the ball was shipped wide where Nowell was able to dive over in the corner for a try bonus point.
Te’o then capitalised on a huge England overlap after Youngs had put replacement Kyle Sinckler through as the home side extended their lead to 29-15 with seven minutes left to play.
Nowell added a sixth try in the final minute with Farrell converting the both the final two tries to extend the margin of victory.
Click here for the complete 2017 RBS 6 Nations fixture list
