Unsurprisingly for a side coming off the back of four successive wins, the Azzurri caused the home side plenty of problems but Marc Wilmots' men took everything that was thrown at them and punished every mistake the visitors made.
Antonio Candreva
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne got on the scoresheet as Belgium struck twice late on to beat Italy 3-1 in their friendly in Brussels.
Antonio Candreva gave Italy an early lead but Belgium, the world's new number one side, replied quickly through Jan Vertonghen and then dominated the second half.
De Bruyne deservedly put the hosts ahead 16 minutes from time before substitute Michy Batshuayi wrapped up victory eight minutes later.
The match was a poignant occasion as a series of events were made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Heysel Disaster, which occurred on the site of the contemporary King Baudouin Stadium and involved Italian side Juventus. These included play stopping in the 39th minute --with the ball still live -- for players to join in applause as the names of the 39 victims of the tragedy were displayed on screen.
In terms of the action, Belgium started slowly as Italy, unbeaten in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, took the lead after just three minutes.
The impressive Alessandro Florenzi raced onto a long ball and fed into the box. A slight deflection took the ball into Graziano Pelle's path and although his shot was parried by Simon Mignolet, Candreva was on hand to tap in.
Candreva could have had another as he cut in from the left to shoot on his right but Mignolet palmed to safety.
Both of those opportunities came as a result of poor defending but the Italians were also caught out at the back as Belgium equalised after 13 minutes.
Vertonghen was left unmarked as De Bruyne delivered a perfect corner for the Tottenham defender to head home.
Italy continued to threaten on the break with Florenzi getting clear only to shoot wide while Eder blazed over.
Romelu Lukaku should have put Belgium ahead before the break after being put through by De Bruyne, but Giorgio Chiellini timed his tackle superbly.
Eder twice passed up a glorious opportunity to give Italy the lead on the hour after a fine ball by substitute Roberto Soriano. He first failed to make clean contact with his shot and hit the bar, and then headed over from a kind rebound.
Italy paid for that as De Bruyne struck after 74 minutes. Moments after Axel Witsel had spurned a good chance, De Bruyne got lucky as his shot bounced over Gianluigi Buffon after Batshuayi's initial effort was saved.
Mignolet denied Pelle an equaliser with a fine save from a free header but Belgium finished the stronger with Batshuayi hitting the target after good work by Yannick Carrasco.
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