At half time the Welsh were down 14-6 down, when Anthony Walker stepped in with a special play.
Wales debutant Danny Ansell came off the bench to play a prominent part in the game crossing for the opening try in the 15th minute after Fozard had broken clear and positioned him to the posts with an inside pass.
Lloyd White’s kicks caused problems but Italy enjoyed most of the possession for the next 10 minutes and on a third repeat set from consecutive drop outs, Colin Wilkie jinked onto a pass to score, Terry Campese levelling with the conversion.
Straight after, a fumbled kick by the visitors saw winger Justin Castellaro go over in the corner, Campese nailing the conversion and then a penalty, after he was hit late by Gil Dudson on 37th minutes.
Wales hit back immediately, Walker picking up the ball from the back of a scrum 20 metres out and crashing over, Davies wide with the goal attempt to leave it 14-10 at the break.
Wales were ahead 12 minutes after the break, Italy fumbling a White kick and Fozard swooping to send Andrew Gay in to score, Davies edging them ahead with a terrific touchline conversion.
And, just before the hour, on the back of Craig Kopczak’s break, Fozard was again the provider with a popped pass for Morris’ second, Davies wide with the extras.
From there it became a tough, physical battle, Joe Burke suffering a badly broken nose but Wales held on, their travelling band of 200 fans getting louder as victory grew nearer.
The Italians, who put on a day-long festival of rugby league including their ‘A’ team going down 26-16 to Belgium in the curtain-raiser, were kept scoreless in the second half and ran out of attacking ideas in the closing stages, having twice dropped the ball in the corner.
Ansell nearly uncovered Wales’ record try scorer Rhys Williams with a kick to the corner, and he wide with a drop goal attempt five minutes from time but the determined Welsh hung on to win 20 - 14.
Italy will now look to redeem themselves with a final attempt to secure the remaining spot at next year's World Cup when they take on Russia in Leigh, England Friday 4th November, 2016.