Pierre Bruno will make his Guinness Six Nations debut for Italy after being named on the wing by Kieran Crowley for his side’s trip to Dublin to face Ireland.
The 25-year-old won his first cap for the Azzurri in the November victory over Uruguay, scoring a try as Italy prevailed 17-10 in their Autumn Nations Series finale.
He forms a back three with Edoardo Padovani and Monty Ioane, who both started Italy’s 33-0 defeat to England in Rome last time out, with Federico Mori dropping out of the squad.
Crowley has also made a change to the centre partnership that started against the Red Rose, with Juan Ignacio Brex joined by Leonardo Marin as Marco Zanon moves to the bench.
Stephen Varney and Paolo Garbisi continue their half-back pairing to complete the backline, while Crowley has made just the one change to the starting forward pack from Round 2.
Giovanni Pettinelli, who captained Italy A against Spain in October, comes into the back row, joining skipper Michele Lamaro and No.8 Toa Halafihi, with Braam Steyn on the bench.
That means the rest of the front five remains unchanged, with Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi and Pietro Ceccarelli packing down ahead of Niccolo Cannone and Federico Ruzza.
Speaking ahead of the game, Crowley said: “We have prepared the next meeting by focusing on the aspects of the game that did not satisfy us in the first two games.
“We face the next commitment with energy and the desire to improve. It will be a physically tough match against one of the strongest teams in the world.”
Italy XV to face Ireland:
15 Edoardo PADOVANI (Benetton Rugby, 32 caps)
14 Pierre BRUNO (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
13 Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
12 Leonardo MARIN (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps)
11 Monty IOANE (Benetton Rugby, 11 caps)
10 Paolo GARBISI (Montpellier, 15 caps)
9 Stephen VARNEY (Gloucester Rugby, 11 caps)
8 Toa HALAFIHI (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps)
7 Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 12 caps) – captain
6 Giovanni PETTINELLI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
5 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 27 caps)
4 Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
3 Pietro CECCARELLI (Brive, 18 caps)
2 Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
1 Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Parma, 17 caps)
Replacements:
16 Epalahame FAIVA (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
17 Ivan NEMER (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
18 Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
19 David SISI (Zebre Parma, 18 caps)
20 Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)
21 Braam STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 47 caps)
22 Alessandro FUSCO (Fiamme Oro Rugby / Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
23 Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
