Gigi De Canio's spell in charge of Lecce got off to a nightmare start as his new team were thrashed by Palermo.

Edison Cavani's penalty gave Palermo an 11th minute lead but a Simone Tiribocchi brace either side of Fabio Simplicio's strike saw the Serie A strugglers hold their own.

However, Fabrizio Miccoli put the hosts in front for the third time four minutes from half-time before Simon Kjaer and Cavani clinched the result after the break.

The result reinforces Palermo's bid for a European spot as they are now four points behind Roma, who hold the last Europa League qualifying spot.

Lecce are further in trouble after Chievo and Reggina both picked up points this weekend to leave them three points off safety and the same distance off bottom spot.

The victory will also have gone some way to placating the Palermo fans following back-to-back losses at La Favorita, which led to the curva Nord support holding a silent protest to show their anger at the derby day defeat to Catania.

It is a terrible start for De Canio, who was handed the reins of the relegation-threatened club after last weekend's goalless draw against Reggina followed the dismissal of coach Mario Beretta.

Eager to win the fans round, Palermo came racing out of the starting blocks and took the lead in the 11th minute when Giuseppe Vives fouled Cavani in the area and the striker lashed home the resulting penalty.

It was an early warning for Lecce, who had not scored in their past five games, but a glimmer of hope was offered in the 17th minute when Kjaer failed to head clear a cross, allowing Jose Castillo to nod it on to Tiribocchi to fire just under the bar.

However, they were level for a matter of moments before Palermo restored their advantage.

Lecce goalkeeper Antonio Rosati failed to grab Federico Balzaretti's cross which sailed over his head to Simplicio who slotted home the easiest of chances from two yards out.

The visitors did not let their heads drop and they once again equalised in the 34th minute when Tiribocchi controlled the ball well on the right flank and, despite pressure by Cesare Bovo, managed to unleash a brilliant effort which flew past Marco Amelia.

But again it did not take long for Palermo to restore their lead as seven minutes later Miccoli raced down the pitch on the counter-attack before slotting the ball past the onrushing Rosati.

De Canio made a double substitution at the break, bringing on Angelo and Axel Konan and switching from 3-5-2 to a more balanced 4-3-3.

However, Palermo extended their lead 11 minutes after the restart when Miccoli's throughball allowed Kjaer to score only his second league goal with a lovely lob from the right of the penalty area.

Things went from bad to worse three minutes later when some good interplay between Simplicio and Cavani saw the Palermo pair beat the offside trap and the former raced towards goal, drawing Rosati out, before cutting it back to Cavani to fire into an empty net.

Lecce never really had another chance until the final few minutes of the match when Ferreira Edinho and Fabio Caserta forced Amelia into decent saves.