Wales scored five tries, including two each for Shane Williams and Lee Byrne, to remain unbeaten in the 2008 RBS Six Nations Championship.
But Coach Gatland said he was not surprised by the margin of victory over Italy that represented their biggest winning margin in the history of the tournament.
“I’m very proud of the effort the boys put in and delighted with the result. The guys looked very sharp but the intensity we showed in training this week made me feel that if we could transfer that to the game, then we were capable of winning by forty points.
“The guys are getting there and they’re starting to understand the type of game that we’re trying to play. That takes time.
“But the message to the players was to keep the pressure on Italy because this championship is so tight that it could come down to points difference. We were conscious of that today and the tries came.”
Gatland admitted this result was revenge for those players involved. He said: “For all the players that were involved in the last couple of years there was a bit of payback today and in the end they were thoroughly thrilled with the win, as was I.
“In the first 20 minutes we used our kicking game well, there were a few errors that we needed to eliminate from the first half and just keep working hard which we did. In the end the result spoke for its self.
“It’s nice to be able to go to Ireland with the chance of winning the Triple Crown but we know how challenging the next game is going to be.”
Italy Coach Nick Mallett is still waiting for his first win since taking charge of the Azzurri and was left to rue a series of missed early opportunities after Andrea Marcato hit the post twice and Gonzalo Canale dropped a pass with the try line at his mercy.
Mallett said: “We should have got that try in the first half, you can’t miss an opportunity like that so I think at half time we could have been in touch and maybe in the lead but in the second half there was only one team on the field. We played badly and Wales played very well.
“When you start off with an interception try, then you get a yellow card and you play with 14 players and when our kicking game wasn’t as good as theirs, you end up playing with no ball at all.
“There are rugby reasons for it but I’m not going to spend time criticising my players. We’ve got to work hard and not make the same mistakes again.”
