Daniele De Rossi scored twice as holders Italy beat Georgia 2-0 in their second World Cup qualifier on Wednesday to go top of Group Eight.

The midfielder opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a blistering left-footed strike and sealed victory in the 89th with a diagonal shot after being picked out by Alessandro Del Piero in the box.

World champions Italy have six points from two games after Saturday's 2-1 win in Cyprus, two more than Ireland, who drew 0-0 with Montenegro earlier on Wednesday.

Azzurri coach Marcello Lippi was looking for a reaction from his side, who were outplayed by Cyprus for long spells in their opener and were lucky to return from Larnaca with a win.

They responded with a confident start, stringing together some crisp passes.

Luca Toni had a shout for a penalty turned down for a tug by Georgia captain Kakha Kaladze in the eight minute and forward Antonio Di Natale came close with a deflected shot after a threaded pass from Toni shortly before De Rossi's piledriver.

The hosts eased up after going ahead and Georgia midfielder Levan Kenia squandered a great chance to equalize in the 26th minute, when he failed with two short-range attempts with the goal begging at the end of rapid counter-attack.

But otherwise the Azzurri sat comfortably on their lead until halftime.

Georgia made a couple of fast breaks after the re-start before the second half slipped back into the uneventful rhythm of the first.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon rushed off his line well to hoof the ball away from Georgia's Levan Kobiashvili's feet in a dangerous position and saved a powerful late strike by Kenia before De Rossi's second gave the home side a flattering 2-0 victory.

Defeat left Georgia bottom of the group with no points after losing 2-1 to the Irish at the weekend.