Italy are still waiting to avenge their Euro 2012 humiliation by Spain after veteran striker Aritz Aduriz forced a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Friuli.
Thursday night's friendly offered the Azzurri another chance to get revenge for the 4-0 humbling meted out by Spain when they retained the European Championship in Kiev four years ago.
Italy boss Antonio Conte will target that trophy at this summer's finals before he returns to club management, and the signs are positive as his team dominated Vicente del Bosque's in Udine.
Antonio Candreva tormented La Roja in the first half, with second-half substitute Lorenzo Insigne taking over and tearing through the visitors' defence to break the deadlock.
But Aduriz, who at the age of 35 shows no signs of slowing down with Athletic Bilbao, denied Italy the win and proved Spain have a versatile range of attacking options heading into Euro 2016.
Conte plumped for an experimental 3-4-3 formation which saw Graziano Pelle flanked up front by Lazio flyer Candreva and Inter Milan's naturalised Italian Eder.
It was Candreva who created the first chance by collecting Matteo Darmian's pass and scooting it into Pelle's path, where Sergio Ramos almost slid the ball into his own net.
Candreva kept Spain on their toes with a rocket from fully 20 yards that David De Gea did well to parry out for a corner.
In the 25th minute Candreva combined with Pelle to tee up Sunderland's forgotten man Emanuele Giaccherini -- currently excelling on loan at Bologna -- for a volley that deflected off Juan Mata when De Gea looked vulnerable.
Another fine Italy move saw Eder connect with Pelle's assist, only for Ramos to take the spin off the ball and, three minutes before the break, Spain bit back with Alvaro Morata just missing an opportunity to turn Thiago Alcantara's cross home.
While Gianluigi Buffon continued to enjoy a quiet night in the home goal, De Gea was forced into a desperate save when Insigne, on for the ineffective Eder, burst into his box on the hour mark.
The Napoli hitman was soon back and supplying Alessandro Florenzi for a first-time effort that De Gea repelled and in the 68th minute he made an even bigger impact.
A flowing team move carried the ball to Giaccherini and Insigne's speed and trajectory meant for a sliding finish.
Reigning European champions Spain drew level inside two minutes, however.
Morata, who looked offside, nodded Cesc Fabregas' free kick towards Buffon and the evergreen Aduriz was on hand to tuck away a quickfire equaliser.
The author of Italy's goal almost grabbed a winner in the 78th minute, Insigne trying to surprise De Gea with a dainty lob that the Manchester United keeper managed to athletically flick over the bar.