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Sampdoria had a penalty saved by their former player Gianluca Pagliuca, but still ran out 2-0 winners.
The Stadio Ferraris - also known as Marassi - was one of the few that passed safety inspections and so the crowd was able to cheer on its side against bottom of the table Ascoli. Fabio Quagliarella was on target for the visitors in their 2-1 win here last season, but has since gone from strength to strength at Samp.
The Blucerchiati had to do without Gianluca Berti, Christian Terlizzi, Sergio Volpi and the suspended Gennaro Delvecchio. Luigi Di Biagio sat out a ban for the Del Duca outfit. Gianluca Pagliuca was reserved a warm welcome, having worn the Sampdoria shirt from 1987 to '94, including their historic Scudetto-winning campaign.
Quagliarella had a goal disallowed for offside after two minutes and the referee pointed to the spot when Franceschini got away from Pagliuca, but was clattered into by Nastase. Francesco Flachi stepped up, but Pagliuca guessed the right angle and parried the penalty.
Pagliuca almost gave away a goal, however, as his weak parry on Flachi's shot set up Quagliarella, who somehow fired the loose ball wide.
Volpi wanted another penalty on the stroke of half-time, but was booked for simulation and got into a scuffle with Pagliuca.
In first half stoppages, Flachi drifted away from his marker to drive just wide of the near post.
Sampdoria finally took the lead after the restart when Christian Maggio rose to nod in a Franceschini cross from the left.
Ascoli were left in 10 men, as Giulio Falcone went on a sensational slalom past three players before he was cynically hacked down by Matteo Melara. There was no intent to play the ball and the red card was inevitable.
Moments later Samp had another goal disallowed for offside by Fabio Bazzani, but the scoreline ticked over to 2-0 almost immediately. Flachi sprung the offside trap and generously rolled across for the totally unmarked Franceschini to tap in.
A minute later and Bazzani's celebrations were again cut short, this time for a push on his marker.
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