Bryan Habana, Jacque Fourie, Fourie Du Preez and Wynand Olivier all touched down, while Morne Steyn kicked 10 points and substitute Ruan Pienaar added a late conversion for the world champions.

Gonzalo Garcia scored Italy's lone try, which Craig Gower converted and later added a penalty.

The Springboks had previously lost to Leicester, France and Saracens on tour.

"We prepared for a tough match," South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said. "We watched Italy's match against the All Blacks from last week and they did really well.

"We focused on the scrums. They drove us well and were very good in the mauls. You come into a game like this and the focus isn't on winning but how you play, and I'm pleased with the performance."

South Africa should have taken the lead in the fourth minute. Young flanker Simone Favaro charged Du Preez after the scrumhalf had launched an up-and-under kick, but Steyn hit the post with the penalty.

The Springboks scored a minute later when Ryan Kankowski shrugged off Gower to break the line and Habana was on his shoulder to cross in the corner.

South Africa doubled the lead when Habana opted to run back a weak clearance by Gower, and Fourie took the pass to run in under the posts.

On the 20-minute mark, Italy began to come into the match. The hosts' scrum drove back South Africa's pack to win a penalty and, while Gower pushed his kick wide, Italy used it as a chance to dominate territory.

"I think it was very surprising that we went 20 minutes until the first scrum," Italy coach Nick Mallett said. "We got a good shove on in the first one and won a penalty.

"We haven't got players like South Africa who are big and strong runners. We have to play to our strengths and one of our strengths is the scrum. The thing was we missed three penalties and you need to take your kicks at this level."

Flanker Alessandro Zanni went close to scoring but it was Garcia who scored Italy's first try of the autumn series, taking a flicked inside pass from Gower to score under the posts in the 31st.

Steyn kicked his first penalty from three attempts just after halftime, and both teams then began to tire and resorted to aimless kicking.

From one such kick, the Springboks ran the ball back. Danie Rossouw broke down the touchline, popped the ball inside to Habana and when the winger was closed down by Italy's defense he flicked it on for Du Preez to touch down.

Both coaches opted to introduce the majority of their replacement benches, which stopped the match from developing any momentum in the last quarter.

In the final 10 minutes, substitute Wynand Olivier stretched South Africa's lead further. From a lineout, winger J.P. Pietersen linked with Pienaar to break Italy's defense and set up Olivier to crash through the Italian centers to score.

"This has been a tough tour where we lost our first (international) game to a good French side," South Africa captain John Smit said. "We played below ourselves in that match and were pretty frustrated.

"The boys played well today. We knuckled down and stuck to the things that have worked for us in the past."