Home favourite Francesco Molinari has held off the challenge of Masters champion Danny Willett to win a second Italian Open in dramatic style in Monza.
The two men had to return to complete their third rounds on Sunday morning after torrential rain and thunderstorms had led to delays on days one and two and they began round four locked together at the top of the leaderboard on 16 under.
The Italian made an eagle-birdie start and looked like he was going to run away with it in front of a loud and partisan crowd when he opened up a four-shot lead stood on the 13th tee.
Willett is made of stern stuff, though, and he showed all the fighting qualities he will need when he tees it up for Europe at the Ryder Cup in 12 days' time, birdieing the 13th and hitting a stunning second shot to 12 feet to eagle the next.
Both players hit poor tee-shots on the last as the nerves began to show and, when Molinari hit an excellent cut from behind a tree with Willett still 130 yards short of the green, the game looked to be up.
But Willett showed once again why he will return to the top 10 in the world when the rankings are released on Monday, holing a clutch putt from 12 feet for par and leaving Molinari a nervy putt for victory.
For 2006 champion Molinari, it was a first win since 2012 and he was visibly emotional on the 18th green.
"It's been a rollercoaster," he said.
"It's amazing to see this amount of people out here supporting me.
"I had the ideal start, I couldn't start any better. When I birdied 12 I got four shots [clear] and thought maybe I could relax a bit and I got punished straight away. Coming in I had nothing left, I was just playing with my soul.
"I was hitting horrible shots, but somehow I managed to bring it in."
