A trip to the division’s bottom side looked to be the ideal way for Fiorentina to rediscover their form, but chances wasted by Albert Gudmundsson and Riccardo Sottil early on showed exactly why La Viola were in need of a boost.
Pablo Mari looked to have given the visitors a helping hand in the 17th minute when he caught Sottil inside the area, only for the referee’s original award of a penalty to be overturned by VAR.
Visiting goalkeeper David de Gea was a passenger for the first quarter of the match, only to find himself at full stretch midway through the half as Warren Bondo’s fierce long-range strike flashed a whisker wide of his right-hand post.
Chance creation was at a premium for the rest of the half which looked set to end without a shot on target.
That was until the 44th minute, when Pedro Pereira’s cutback was half-cleared into the path of Patrick Ciurria, who steered the ball past de Gea to give I Biancorossi the lead.
Palladino turned to Lucas Beltran at half-time and his decision came close to vindication within nine minutes of the restart, with Beltran’s effort cleared off the line by Andrea Carboni following a Dodo cross being spilled by Stefano Turati.
Frustrations were beginning to tell for the Tuscan side when Robin Gosens sent a shot marginally over, only for their night to get much worse just after the hour mark, when Pereira’s cross was guided home on the volley by Daniel Maldini to extend the Monza advantage.
Inside the final 20 minutes, Beltran got one over Carboni, going down under the defender’s challenge and winning a penalty, which he then converted to halve the deficit, despite Turati getting a glove to it.
Christian Kouame’s late chance trickling wide signalled the end of a run of seven consecutive wins against sides sitting bottom of the table for Fiorentina.
The 2-1 victory ends a five-match league losing run for Monza, all five of which ended with the same scoreline.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pedro Pereira (Monza)