Felipe Melo and Alberto Gilardino got Fiorentina back on track, although a decimated Atalanta made them sweat.

The Viola had a rough week leading up to this game thanks to a defeat at Siena, a 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich that all but ended their Champions League hopes and a thigh strain ruling Adrian Mutu out for a fortnight. At least Alberto Gilardino returned from his two-match ban for punching the ball into the net against Palermo.

Atalanta had plenty of problems too, as Cristiano Doni, Jaime Valdes, Antonino D'Agostino, Luca Cigarini, Tomas Manfredini and Leo Talamonti didn't make the trip. The Orobici had won just one of their last seven official outings and gave Alessio Cerci a rare start upfront.

Sergio Floccari's free kick skimmed the bar and Gilardino complained when an offside flag stopped him one-on-one with Ferdinando Coppola.

Felipe Melo opened the scoring with his debut Serie A goal, unleashing a fierce strike from 20 metres that slotted into the far bottom corner, albeit thanks to a very slow reaction from Coppola.

Atalanta were shaken and three minutes later the Viola made it 2-0. Stevan Jovetic pounced on a defensive error to dispossess Rivalta at the byline and cut back for Gilardino to sweep home from eight yards.

Jovetic just failed to get on the end of a Zdravko Kuzmanovic cross, but Atalanta had a rare scoring opportunity with Diego De Ascentiis' header.

A Jovetic chest and volley was over from nine yards, but Franco Semioli went even closer moments later as he brilliantly trapped a looping cross and chipped the goalkeeper to hit the bar.

Coppola had to rush out to stop Gilardino after a long ball had gone past both central defenders.

There was a special moment when Christian Vieri made his Atalanta debut six months after his last appearance for Fiorentina.

Gilardino sprung the offside trap only to fire straight at the goalkeeper one-on-one, but Gianluca Comotto's handling offence blocking Simone Padoin's shot with 14 minutes to go gave Atalanta a look back into the match. Floccari stepped up and cheekily rolled it to send Sebastien Frey the wrong way.

Gilardino had a great opportunity to close it up again, but his effort cracked against the upright.