Pirlo put the world champions in front with a 25th minute penalty after Eric Abidal had brought down Luca Toni inside the area.

Abidal was shown a straight red, leaving the French with a mountain to climb following the earlier loss of Franck Ribery to injury, but Italy were still made to suffer before Daniele De Rossi's 62nd minute free-kick took a deflection off Thierry Henry and found the back of the net.

The turn of events completed a terrible tournament for Les Bleus, who were held to goalless draw against Romania in their Group C opener before being hammered 4-1 by Holland.

France coach Raymond Domenech was forced to make his first substitution shortly after when Ribery sustained a left ankle injury and had to be stretchered off the pitch with Samir Nasri taking his place.

Karen Benzema's powerful strike from the edge of the area went inches wide of Gianluigi Buffon's near post and in the 21st minute, Pirlo played a one-two with Antonio Cassano before serving a wonderful ball inside the box to Simone Perrotta, who was unable to control the pass. Disaster struck for Les Bleus seconds later.

Toni tumbled over and Slovakian referee Lubos Michel pointed to the penalty spot before Pirlo coolly stepped up to fire into the top left-hand corner.

News that Holland had taken the lead in the other group game in Bern reverberated around the stadium 10 minutes after the break, but it failed to inspire the Azzurri, who had mustered little after the break and were lucky to extend their lead in the 62nd minute.

Daniele De Rossi's free-kick saw the ball deflected off Henry's left foot and went past Gregory Coupet, who had dived towards the right post and into the back of the net.

The Azzurri will have to face Spain without key player Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso, both booked against France.