It will be the 50th meeting between the two teams, who will be competing for the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy in Lille on the weekend.
Inside centre Federico Mori returns to the starting XV for the first time in almost two years, while fly-half Paolo Garbisi and scrum-half Martin Page-Relo - the latter making his first start in the Guinness Men's Six Nations - are paired at half-back.
Zebre second row Matteo Canali could be in line for his Test debut from the bench.
Italy are seeking their first win of this year's Championship, while France bounced back from an opening-weekend loss to Ireland to grab a late victory in Edinburgh in round two.
ITALY XV: 15 Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 17 caps), 14 Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps), 13 Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton Rugby, 32 caps), 12 Federico MORI (Bayonne, 15 caps), 11 Monty IOANE (Lione 27 caps), 10 Paolo GARBISI (Montpellier, 33 caps), 9 Martin PAGE-RELO (Lione, 5 caps), 1 Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Parma, 38 caps), 2 Giacomo NICOTERA (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps), 3 Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps), 4 Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 38 caps), 5 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 51 caps), 6 Riccardo FAVRETTO (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap), 7 Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps) – captain, 8 Ross VINTCENT (Exeter, 1 cap)
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps), 17 Mirco SPAGNOLO (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps), 18 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 50 caps), 19 Matteo CANALI (Zebre Parma, uncapped), 20 Andrea ZAMBONIN (Zebre Parma, 5 caps), 21 Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps), 22 Stephen VARNEY (Gloucester, 26 caps), 23 Leonardo MARIN (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps).
