Fly-half superstar Wilkinson, slammed in several quarters for his poor performance during the Twickenham implosion against Wales last weekend, booted three penalties and converted early tries by wing Paul Sackey and centre Toby Flood.
Wilkinson told BBC1: “It wasn’t easy - Ireland found that last week and other teams will too.
“Italy are a great side and we could have thrown it away.”
On his personal milestone, Wilkinson added: “It was a case of trying to get out there and express myself on the field.
“I hoped in some way I could make a difference to the end result.
“But the guys all chipped in, they were brilliant to a man - right through to the substitutes’ bench. We were fantastic.”
England, though, were almost guilty of another calamitous collapse.
Having blown a 19-6 advantage to lose by seven points against Wales, this time Italy threatened to wipe out a 20-6 interval lead.
Substitute scrum-half Simon Picone's late try - he charged down a kick by Wilkinson's replacement Danny Cipriani - plus 14 points from full-back David Bortolussi ensured a tense finale.
England did just enough, even if their performance did nothing to alarm tournament favourites France, England's next Six Nations opponents in Paris on Saturday week.
England prevailed, despite losing six players - Phil Vickery, Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Andrew Sheridan, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees - through injury or illness.
Vickery was the latest withdrawal, being laid low by a stomach bug that meant Bath lock Steve Borthwick captained England for the first time and Matt Stevens packed down in the front-row.
Tweet
