Keith Earls completed Ireland’s rout by touching down late on, with Sexton’s conversion making the final score 48-10.
With Italy having two men in the sin bin after conceding a series of penalties, Ireland made the most of their numerical advantage to go further ahead.
Connors claimed his second try of the afternoon, with Sexton adding the conversion to make it 41-10.
James Lowe then had a try wiped out after a pass from debutant Craig Casey was deemed to have gone forward.
Ireland guaranteed a bonus point by claiming their fourth try just three minutes after the restart.
CJ Stander powered over to score, with Sexton’s fourth conversion moving the scoreboard to 34-10.
Ireland arrived in Rome to take on Italy on the back of their worst start to a Guinness Six Nations campaign.
Andy Farrell’s side have scored a tournament-low two tries in defeats by Wales and France.
Head coach Farrell made seven changes to the team beaten by Les Bleus on February 14th, including recalling skipper Johnny Sexton and vice-captain James Ryan following head injuries.
Hosts Italy, who have named an unchanged starting XV following the 41-18 loss to England, have not won a championship game for six years and will be hoping to avoid a 30th successive defeat in the competition.
Italy, who made a late change to their team with Callum Braley replacing Stephen Varney at scrum-half, started brightly and went 3-0 ahead in the fourth minute thanks to a Paolo Garbisi penalty.
The lead lasted just two minutes as returning Ireland captain Sexton converted a penalty at the other end.
Ireland sprang into life and went 10-3 in front thanks to a Garry Ringrose try, which was converted by Sexton.
The opening score came after Iain Henderson was denied a try when the television match official deemed he had lost control of the ball before grounding.
Ireland moved 20-3 ahead in the 33rd minute following a try from Hugo Keenan.
#TeamOfUs
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And that @Ringrose_G offload! ?#ShoulderToShoulder #IrishRugby #GuinnessSixNations #ITAvIRE pic.twitter.com/YTy8bGwTun— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 27, 2021
Full-back Keenan burst through the Italian defence to touch down, with Sexton, who had earlier scored his second penalty of the game, adding the extras.
Flanker Will Connors claimed Ireland’s third score of the afternoon.
Italy trailed 27-10 at the break having scored their first try of the match through Johan Meyer just before the interval.
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