On-fire Blues looked set to make light work of soaring temperatures that tipped 33 degrees with a dream start at Stadio XV Aprile as half back pair Rhys Patchell – who ended with 21 points - and Lloyd Williams both scored in the opening quarter of an hour.
However, resilient Zebre hit back with tries from Brendon Leonard and Filippo Ferrarini. Only a monster penalty from Patchell, from deep inside his own half, secured Blues a slender 17-15 lead at the break.
The Italians threatened a repeat of the victory they secured over Blues last season when wing Dion Berryman added a third home try just minutes after the restart.
But two tries in two devastating minutes from Dan Fish and Alex Cuthbert ensured a deserved try bonus point before Kristian Dacey added a final flourish with a fifth try.
Director of Rugby Mark Hammett, in charge of his first Guinness PRO12 game, handed debuts to Adam Jones, Josh Turnbull and Manoa Vosawai while fellow summer recruit Craig Mitchell was among the replacements.
Boiling temperatures and a cauldron like atmosphere greeted the teams, but it was Blues that settled the better with Patchell just off target with an early penalty attempt from out wide after a scrum infringement.
The opening try of the season from Blues, though, was not long in coming with the impressive Sam Warburton at the heart of the move.
The Wales skipper found a gap in the Zebre defensive wall and tore into space before feeding the supporting Owen Jenkins on his shoulder. The wing drew one tackler and duly released Patchell who showed a real turn of pace to blaze over in the corner for a 7-0 lead.
Zebre responded to the early body-blow with giant Number Eight Vunisa Samuela rumbling up the wing and kicking in behind, with the alert Fish stopping Berryman from touching down.
However, the officials went back for a tackle off the ball against Filo Paulo, that saw the lock ace yellow carded, and Luciano Orquera slotted the resulting penalty to reduce the lead.
Despite being a man down, Blues went further ahead with a try that had class stamped all over it. Gavin Evans was the instigator and several slick offloads later it was Patchell who sent Cory Allen into clear air. The Wales international drew the final man and sent Williams under the posts.
Orquera missed a penalty from in front of the posts before Zebre commenced a thrilling comeback as a five-metre scrum resulted in livewire scrum half Brendon Leonard racing to the corner and scoring under pressure.
The end to end encounter continued at a rattling pace despite the heat with Chris Dicomidis only denied a try by a forward pass in the build-up before Zebre struck once more.
Manici Andrea sprinted down the middle of the field, after the Italians stole a visiting lineout, and moments later pressure told as Ferrarini crashed over for the lead after a powerful forward drive.
However, deep into first half stoppage time, Patchell wrestled back the advantage as he brilliantly drilled over a mammoth 56-metre penalty kick from inside his own half for a 17-15 lead.
Blues looked to control territory and possession at the start of the second half, only for Zebre to send the local support into ecstasy with a third try of the afternoon after a sustained period of pressure.
A lengthy delay for the TMO had seen Zebre denied a try, when they thought they had grounded a loose ball after a lineout. However, there was no mistake seconds later as the Italians went down the short side from the resulting scrum and Berryman skated over.
Blues needed a response and produced it within two minutes as they looked to go up through the gears and blow away the early season rust.
Scrum half Williams spotted a gap to dart away, after the hard-working Sam Hobbs had turned over ball, and when play went wide right at real pace it was Fish who straightened his line, escaped the clutches of the last man and scored.
Moments later more effective breakdown work from Josh Turnbull resulted in turnover ball and when it shifted to the flank the elusive Allen broke the line and fed Cuthbert who cruised around the full back for the bonus point.
Two penalties from home replacement Kelly Haimona saw Zebre again fight-back and cut the lead to five points, with Blues down to 14 men with Gareth Davies in the sin bin.
Any hope of a famous home comeback, though, was quickly extinguished when Lewis Jones made a snipping run and, after several forward bursts and an injection of power and pace from Vosawai, it was hooker Dacey who picked up and crashed over.
Patchell added another sweetly struck penalty to put the final nail in the Zebre coffin before some excellent late defence saw Blues hold firm to deny the Italians a try bonus point.
Timeline:
10m Patchell t Patchell c 0-7
13m Orquera p 3-7
14m Williams t Patchell c 3-14
21m Leonard t 8-14
34m Ferrarini t Orquera c 15-14
40m Patchell p 15-17
46m Berryman t 20-17
48m Fish t Patchell c 20-24
51m Cuthbert t Patchell c 20-31
55m Haimona p 23-31
63m Haimona p 26-31
68m Dacey t Patchell c 26-38
70m Patchell p 26-41
Cardiff Blues: 15 Dan Fish, 14 Owen Jenkins (Davies 32-40, 49), 13 Cory Allen, 12 Gavin Evans (Hewitt 73), 11 Alex Cuthbert, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Lloyd Williams (Jones 60), 1 Sam Hobbs (Davies 76), 2 Matthew Rees (Dacey 49), 3 Adam Jones (Mitchell 40), 4 Chris Dicomidis (Cook 49), 5 Filo Paulo, 6 Josh Turnbull (Navidi 56), 7 Sam Warburton, 8 Manoa Vosawai
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Thomas Davies, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Josh Navidi, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Dafydd Hewitt