Leonardo Ghiraldini will captain Italy against Georgia in Florence on Saturday as one of ten changes made by Conor O’Shea.
The Toulouse hooker comes into the starting line-up for what is virtually a completely new forward pack.
Abraham Steyn is the only player to keep his place, although he shifts from blindside flanker to No.8.
He will be joined in the back row by Sebastian Negri and Jake Polledri, with Dean Budd and Alessandro Zanni in the second row.
Either side of Ghiraldini, Andrea Lovotti and Simone Ferrari come into the sides as the starting props.
In the backs, Tommaso Allan gets the nod at fly-half, where he will link up with Benetton teammate Tito Tebaldi, while Tommaso Castello comes into the centres alongside Michele Campagnaro.
Luca Sperandio and Mattia Bellini keep their place in the back three, with the latter swapping to the left wing as Tommaso Benvenuti comes into the side.
And O’Shea is confident his team have recovered from their trip to Chicago when they were beaten by Ireland.
He said: “We know the importance of this match. The team has recovered well from the flight back from the USA and we are ready to take on Georgia. It will be a very physical game. We want to be at our best for 80 minutes.”
Italy team to face Georgia: 15. Luca Sperandio (Benetton Rugby), 14. Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Rugby), 13. Michele Campagnaro (Unattached), 12. Tommaso Castello (Zebre), 11. Mattia Bellini (Zebre), 10. Tommaso Allan (Benetton Rugby), 9. Tito Tebaldi (Benetton Rugby), 1. Andrea Lovotti (Zebre), 2. Leonardo Ghiraldini (Stade Toulousain, captain), 3. Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Rugby), 5. Dean Budd (Benetton Rugby), 6. Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby), 7. Jake Polledri (Gloucester), 8. Abraham Steyn (Benetton Rugby) Replacements: 16. Luca Bigi (Benetton Rugby), 17. Cherif Traorè (Benetton Rugby), 18. Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton Rugby), 19. Marco Fuser (Benetton Rugby), 20. Johan Meyer (Zebre), 21. Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre), 22. Carlo Canna (Zebre), 23. Luca Morisi (Benetton Rugby)
