Napoli left it late in their 1-0 win against Cagliari before the international break, but they were in no mood to wait around here as they took an early lead. The visitors were heavily assisted by a moment of madness from Pietro Comuzzo when he felled Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa inside the area, and Kevin De Bruyne assumed responsibility from the spot, confidently stepping forward to send David de Gea the wrong way and notch his second Serie A goal of the season.
The former Manchester United stopper was picking the ball out of his net again soon after, when a delicate ball around the corner by Leonardo Spinazzola sent another former Red Devil in Rasmus Højlund clear on goal, and he made no mistake in finding the bottom corner.
The two goalscorers were proving to be difficult for Fiorentina to tie down, and they almost combined for a third goal midway through the first half. Højlund twisted and turned inside the area, but when he couldn’t get a shot off, he teed up De Bruyne, and the Belgian forced a fine one-handed save out of De Gea.
Two goals behind, it felt like a long way back for Fiorentina, and their mountain became a whole lot more difficult to climb after the break when Napoli added a third within 10 minutes of the restart.
La Viola failed to clear their lines from a corner, and Anguissa kept the ball alive at the far post, rolling the ball across the six-yard box for Sam Beukema to tap into an empty net.
Napoli kept their foot to the floor in pursuit of truly humbling their opponents, with chances continually presenting themselves. Scott McTominay had a great opportunity to fire past his former Old Trafford teammate, but his tame effort was a rare low point in the evening for Napoli.
With the luxury of a three-goal cushion, Napoli boss Antonio Conte withdrew some of his big hitters in the closing stages with one eye on their midweek game against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.
That certainly contributed towards the closing stages being something of a non-event, with both sides seemingly keen for referee Luca Zufferli to draw a halt to proceedings.
The hosts did manage to salvage a crumb of pride when Luca Ranieri grabbed a late consolation, but in the driving Florence rain, that was about the only positive on an otherwise bleak evening for Fiorentina, who slumped to their first defeat of the season.
Napoli are showing no signs of losing, though, having won their opening three games of the campaign for the first time since 2021/22.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Napoli)