Juventus beat fierce rivals Inter Milan 2-0 on Sunday to move in sight of Serie A's top four, while Felipe Anderson fired Lazio to a 1-0 win in the first Rome derby of the season.
Juve have spent almost the entire season lurching from one disaster to another, but France midfielder Rabiot's brilliant first-time finish five minutes after the break and a late deflected shot from youngster Nicolo Fagioli earned them a fourth straight league win.
Massimiliano Allegri's side, which was without Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic, is fifth in Italy's top flight and two points off Lazio and Atalanta in the final two Champions League places.
Inter are a point behind Juve in seventh after their fifth defeat of the season, which came after they wasted a promising first half filled with opportunities.
Rabiot's opener came following superb play from the impressive Filip Kostic, and five minutes after, Hakan Calhanoglu had a piledriver tipped onto bar by Wojciech Szczesny, one of a series of chances Inter had to take the lead before going behind.
Edin Dzeko headed wide from inches out in the 27th minute, the Bosnian not ready for Lautaro Martinez's flick-on from a corner, but the worst miss came three minutes before halftime. Denzel Dumfries looked certain to score when he raced unmarked onto Nicolo Barella's cross-cum-shot but somehow skied what looked like a simple finish.
And after Danilo had a goal for Juve ruled out for handball following a VAR check in the 65th minute, Martinez drove a poor low finish straight at Szczesny at the end of a quick counterattack.
Fagioli then sealed the points with five minutes remaining after being fed by the Kostic to give Juve hope their recent troubles might be coming to an end.
Lazio beat roma
Anderson struck Lazio's winner just before the half-hour mark in the Italian capital after Roma defender Roger Ibanez gave the ball away cheaply in his own area under pressure from Pedro.
It was the 29-year-old's third league goal of the campaign as he continues to play in the unfamiliar position of centre-forward in place of the injured Ciro Immobile.
Italy striker Immobile was on the bench supporting Lazio despite a thigh problem leaving him unable to play, and he watched his team go third with an assured performance.
Known for his expansive brand of football, Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri has developed a team that is hard to beat, and shorn of key man Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, it soaked
up Roma's largely ineffectual attacking and claimed a seventh clean sheet from its last eight matches.