Roma recovered from their midweek defeat at Genoa with a professional performance against Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Giallorossi's second Serie A win of the season was sealed by first-half goals from Christian Panucci and Mirko Vucinic,although both came with a touch of fortune.
Atalanta were unable to find a response, despite dominating in the second half, as Roma held onto their advantage.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti named Mirko Vucinic up front, with Francesco Totti and Julio Baptista both still out injured, although when you have an attack-minded defender like Panucci, it does not really matter who leads the strike line.
Panucci has already been converted from a full-back to central defender by Spalletti, who may be considering another change of position following his third goal of the season in the 17th minute.
While fortune was not on Panucci's side in midweek when his goal against Genoa was wrongly disallowed for offside, he was luckier on Sunday with a deflection off Thomas Manfredini leaving Ferdinando Coppola wrong-footed in the Atalanta goal.
His second Serie A goal takes him level with Alberto Aquilani as the Giallorossi's top scorer this season.
Roma then doubled their lead in the 32nd minute with another bit of luck involved in the build-up to Vucinic's goal.
Jeremy Menez's pass into the area was harmless until it flicked off the foot of an Atalanta defender and fell into the path of Vucinic.
The Montenegrin still had work to do with his back to goal, but he made it look easy as he turned and shot into the bottom corner of Coppola's goal
Vucinic thought he had scored his second minutes later, but the whistle had long since gone for offside, although it looked a tight decision.
The Roma striker lifted his shot expertly into the far corner and was rewarded with a yellow card for his efforts.
The game was effectively over with the second Roma goal and the home side switched into defensive mode, protecting what they had rather than risk searching for a third and allowing the Nerazzurri to reopen the game.
Atalanta tried to find a route back into the match nonetheless and Sergio Floccari beat the offside trap in the 62nd minute, but he always had his back to the target as Doni scampered from his goal to put him off while the Roma defenders recovered.
Jaime Valdes shot wide from 10 yards after Diego De Ascentis expertly back-healed Cristiano Doni's pass into his path with a quarter of an hour remaining, but there was simply no way through for the side from Bergamo.
Roma held on for a crucial win - only their second of the season - to move back into the right half of the table and give them confidence ahead of their Champions League tie at Bordeaux on Wednesday.
