Rome: Antonio Di Natale scored his league-leading seventh goal as Udinese edged Palermo 1-0 on Sunday to move back within a point of Serie A leader Juventus.
Serie A's top scorer from the past two seasons found the target with a volley from the center of the area in the 38th minute at Udine's Stadio Friuli.
Di Natale also hit the crossbar in the 10th and squandered a great chance to double the lead two minutes after his goal.
Palermo pushed for an equalizer in the second half and Udinese was fortunate to come away with a win.
Juventus leads with 19 points, Udinese has 18 and AC Milan is next with 17.
Juventus won 2-1 at Inter Milan on Saturday and AC Milan posted a 3-2 victory at Roma.
Lazio, which has 15 points, was playing at Cagliari later with a chance to draw level with Udinese.
In the lunchtime fixture, Siena posted a convincing 4-1 win over Chievo Verona to move into seventh place.
Mattia Destro scored twice for the hosts, in the 25th and 57th minutes, and Gaetano D'Agostino made it 3-0 in the 61st before Davide Moscardelli pulled one back for Chievo in the 75th.
Emanuele Calaio scored his fifth of the season for Siena in added time.
Also Sunday, Fiorentina narrowly beat Genoa 1-0 with a 41st-minute strike from Andrea Lazzari to save coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's job. Fiorentina defender Alessandro Gamberini hit the crossbar in the 78th and the ball appeared to deflect into the goal, but the referee thought otherwise.
Despite ending a five-match winless streak, Fiorentina fans still called for Mihajlovic's ouster.
"We're playing for Mihajlovic, we've always supported him. We did well to win this match," Lazzari said. "At halftime Sinisa told us to only think about the match, and we were able to maintain the lead."
Bologna distanced itself from the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Atalanta.
German Denis put Atalanta in front with his sixth goal of the season seven minutes in and Bologna captain Marco Di Vaio equalized with a penalty in the 45th. Uruguayan forward Gaston Ramirez then put Bologna ahead after slipping through Atalanta's defense in the 48th and Simone Loria sealed the win with a header off a free kick in the 68th.
Elsewhere, Sebastian Giovinco had a penalty blocked but Parma still managed to beat last-place Cesena 2-0 with goals from defenders Gabriel Paletta and Alessandro Lucarelli.
After the match, Cesena fired coach Marco Giampaolo.
Also, Lecce and Novara drew 1-1 to leave both clubs in the relegation zone. Rodney Strasser put Lecce ahead in the 31st and Marco Rigoni equalized for Novara with a penalty in the 44th.
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