Napoli thrashed Bologna 3-0 on Sunday in Rafael Benitez's first league game in charge as the Partenopei went top of the early Serie A table.

Champions Juventus had kickstarted the new season with a 1-0 away win at Sampdoria on Saturday when AC Milan, who finished third last season, were stunned 2-1 by a Luca Toni brace away at promoted Verona.

However a first-half opener from Jose Callejon and a brace from Slovakian forward Marek Hamsik sealed the points for the hosts in Naples as they went top ahead of Inter Milan and Roma.

Napoli underwent major changes in the close season with the league's top scorer, Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, moving to Paris Saint-Germain and coach Walter Mazzarri moving to Inter.

Former Real Madrid forward Gonzalo Higuain, brought in by Benitez as a direct replacement, made his league debut at the San Paolo but failed to hit the net as Hamsik stole the show with a scintillating performance.

Earlier on Sunday, Inter, whose 2012-13 campaign ended in a catastrophic ninth-place finish, got off to a winning start with second half goals from Yuto Nagatomo and Rodrigo Palacio securing a deserved 2-0 win over Genoa to get Mazzarri's reign as coach off to a positive start.

Prior to this game Inter had won only once in their last eight games, and Mazzarri said: "The boys hadn't won at home for several months and suffered a lot of defeats, so this win has helped exorcise the demons."

Elsewhere Cup holders Lazio, thrashed 4-0 by Juventus in the Italian Super Cup last week, made amends with a 2-1 home win over Udinese.

Hernanes opened the scoring for Vladimir Petkovic's side in the 13th minute, with Antonio Candreva adding Lazio's second from the penalty spot three minutes later.

Udinese reduced the arrears on the hour thanks to substitute Luis Muriel, and the northerners, who finished fifth last term to secure a Europa League spot, pushed their hosts all the way before conceding defeat.

French coach Rudi Garcia's first game in charge of Roma, an away trip to promoted Livorno, was a tense affair until Daniele De Rossi broke the deadlock in the 65th minute.

Alessandro Florenzi allayed fears further when he sealed a 2-0 win only two minutes later to leave Roma, one of only three victorious teams not to concede a goal at the weekend, in third place.

Torino were hosting league new boys Sassuolo in rain-hit Turin, where Matteo Brighi broke the deadlock in the 40th minute for the hosts and Alessio Cerci scored an unanswered second on the hour mark.

Cagliari also took all three points, but were down to a 27th-minute opener from Atalanta's Guglielmo Stendardo before levelling a minute later through Radja Nainggolan, with Matias Cabrera clinching a 2-1 win after finishing off a fine offensive move in the 63rd minute.

Milan were the only major side not to claim all three points on the opening weekend of the campaign.

They had opened the scoring inside the opening quarter of an hour in Verona when midfielder Andrea Poli finished off a smart pass from Italy striker Mario Balotelli.

But the visitors were pegged back by Luca Toni on the half-hour, and left stunned when the former Fiorentina striker scored with his second header eight minutes after the restart.