Christian Vieri put the home side in front from the penalty spot with his 200th goal in Italy before Vincenzo Grella levelled matters just before the hour mark.

But Adrian Mutu ensured the Viola's third win in a row with another spot-kick 14 minutes from time.

Torino, who now find themselves precariously positioned above the drop zone, were unlucky not to come away with something from the match as they put in a battling performance.

Coach Walter Novellino's injury troubles were underlined by the three youth-team players warming the bench.

The first real chance fell to Fiorentina's Mario Alberto Santana who latched onto a nice Riccardo Montolivo through-ball but subsequently fired his shot straight at Toro goalkeeper Matteo Sereni.

Vieri came close a few minutes later with a decent left-footed effort from 20 yards after Mutu had headed the ball into his path. Sereni just managed to push the ball out for a corner.

The visitors were unable to conjure up anything that really tested their hosts in the first half and found themselves behind with the last touch of the half.

Marco Di Loreto gave away a penalty having taken Mutu's leg away as the Romanian ace broke into the box. Mutu handed penalty-taking duties to Vieri to allow the veteran to score his benchmark goal.

In the second half, Torino looked dangerous on the counter-attack and David Di Michele came close to restoring parity five minutes after the restart as he turned and shot from 30 yards but saw his strike rise over the bar.

Their efforts finally paid off as a Eugenio Corini free-kick found its way to Sasa Bjelanovic who headed back for Grella. The Australia international unleashed a thunderbolt low drive from 30 yards which bounced in off the left-hand post.

Fiorentina pressed forward for the remaining half-hour and created a number of decent chances with Mutu trying his luck from 25 yards out but sending the ball straight at Sereni.

He came close again two minutes later as he fired a free-kick just wide with a good effort.

Viola goalkeeper Sebastian Frey looked alert as he claimed a curving header from Bjelanovic after Corini's free-kick found Di Michele who in turn flicked the ball on nicely to the Croatian.

At the other end, Montolivo then saw an excellent right-footed half-volley deflected out for a corner.

Mutu put the hosts back ahead after 76 minutes when he intercepted a poor headed back pass by Salvatore Lanna. The number 10 broke into the area and had his legs clipped by Lanna just as he was about to shoot.

He calmly stepped up and beat Sereni from the spot, much to the relief of the home support.

Substitute Martin Jorgensen almost put the result beyond doubt late on but his far-post header from a superb Tomas Ujfalusi cross went straight into the arms of Sereni.