Empoli at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.
The visitors’ captain Mauro Icardi scored the lone goal of the match and Samir Handanovic was called to make several saves in order to preserve the clean sheet.
The first real chance of the match for either side came in the 17th minute after a seemingly soft foul call on Jeison Murillo.
Maccarone elected to go low from 20 yards but Handanovic got down well to push the effort aside.
A minute later Handanovic was called on again, this time to charge well outside his box and clear to safety with a diving header.
Riccardo Saponara then turned and fired wide from a narrow angle.
In the 32nd minute a slack pass from Gary Medel was picked up by Marcel Buchel who fired a left-footed effort that was turned away by Handanovic.
After 38 minutes, a Leandro Paredes chipped ball from the right floated just over the far corner of the net with Handanovic stranded.
In the 42nd minute Adem Ljajic had a shot well-blocked by Federico Barba. The ball eventually found its way to Ivan Perisic whose mishit ballooned over the bar.
Against the overall run of play, Inter managed to take the lead in first half stoppage times with their first effort on target.
Perisic made some space for himself down the right and played a low cross to the near post which was turned in by Icardi.
Shortly after the interval, a stray Ljajic pass was picked up by Manuel Pucciarelli who played Saponara through on goal but Handanovic was equal to the task once again.
Marcelo Brozovic had two side-footed efforts go harmlessly wide of the far post around the hour mark.
In the 65th minute a Piotr Zielinski mishit rolled across a gaping goal just out of the reach of Pucciarelli.
Shortly after, Geoffrey Kondogbia saw his effort finish just wide past the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.
Controversy struck after 72 minutes. A delicate Saponara through-ball found Pucciarelli who appeared to have been possibly clipped from behind in the box by Murillo as he was preparing to shoot but referee Domenico Celi waved play on.
As Murillo had already been booked, it also would have meant that Empoli surely would have played the final 18 minutes with a numerical advantage.
In the 81st minute, a deflected Saponara cross finished agonizingly wide of the far post.
The remainder of the match was played without real incident as Inter hung on to preserve their status atop the table while Empoli, despite a valiant effort, slip to eighth place.
