Scotland dominated much of the rest of the game and scored tries of their own through Rob Dewey in the first half and Chris Paterson midway through the second period to give the home support some hope.

But a couple of penalties from Scanavacca and a late try for veteran scrum-half Alessandro Troncon secured a famous win for the Azzurri, their first in the Six Nations away from home.

Hadden revealed it was his plan to start the game by trying to be creative in midfield and disrupt Italy's blitz defence.

He said: "As you can imagine, the dressing room is shell-shocked as a result of what happened out there today.

"I've already talked to the players about the situation and I take full responsibility for the situation. I wanted a fast tempo at the start to get the crowd on the edge of their seats and start the game in a way which would make the game difficult for their rushing defence.

"You have to chip, you have to slow down the rushing defence - but sadly the execution went absolutely pear shaped and that created a surreal atmosphere from there on in.

"But I thought we regrouped well and got ourselves back into the match. When Chris Paterson scored his try, I felt that we were going to go on and win the game.

"When we let that restart bounce into touch, though, it was a decisive point and gave them the chance to kick a penalty and go on and close out the game."

Hadden also defended his decision to ignore kickable penalties and instead try to claw back the deficit through tries alone.

The former Edinburgh coach said: "It's a very difficult thing to get the balance right when you are 21-0 down after six minutes.

"We had opportunities to kick penalties but I felt it was better to kick for the corner, keep the pressure on and look for tries.

"When you are 21-0 down, reducing their lead by three points at a time is a long way back. And if you take the penalties then you are back in your own half from the restart.

"We wanted to keep them down there and look for tries and it worked for Rob Dewey's try."

Italy coach Pierre Berbizier described his side's victory as a "dream".

The France legend said: "It was important to get this victory. We work a lot and for the fans and the players this [an away win] was a dream. Now it is a reality.

"Now we have to keep working and try to build on this win in our next too games in the Six Nations. This win is a consequence of the work we have done and we must continue.

"We now look to our final games in this tournament and then prepare for the World Cup. It is a long way away and it will be a different game against Scotland then.

"I know how Scotland will react from this and we must keep improving as we have done from the game at Twickenham against England.

"We will have to wait and see what this does for Italian rugby but today it was an important step and the players played their hearts out for their country."