The Azzurri were within minutes of beating France in the opening round of last year's Championship but were eventually pipped 23-21 at Stade de France, and lost all of their remaining fixtures emphatically.
However, they have since made some shrewd additions to their coaching staff. Former Harlequins boss Conor O'Shea was lured to Italy while ex-Saracens coach Brendan Venter has joined as defence coach.
The changes have had some impact. Italy came close to beating Argentina in June before recording a first ever victory over the Springboks in Florence in November. But inconsistency continues to dog them; those results sandwiched other disappointments, including a loss to Tonga one week after knocking over the Boks.
As is always the case with Italy, key to their Six Nations ambitions is continuity throughout the tournament, and a hope that their relatively small player pool is not exposed by injuries.
Player to watch
Campagnaro is hitting form at exactly the right time. Exeter didn't manage to progress from their Champions Cup pool but Campagnaro scored three tries in the final two rounds, including a brace against Ulster, and followed it up with a hat-trick against Wasps in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
The 23-year-old made his Italy debut in 2013 and since then has tallied 25 caps for his country, scoring four tries.
Six Nations squad
Forwards: Pietro Ceccarelli, Dario Chistolini, Lorenzo Cittadini, Andrea Lovotti, Sami Panico, Tommaso D'Apice, Ornel Gega, Leonardo Ghiraldini, George Fabio Biagi, Joshua Furno, Marco Fuser, Federico Ruzza, Andries Van Schalkwyk, Marco Barbini, Simone Favaro, Maxime Mata Mbanda, Francesco Minto, Sergio Parisse (c), Abraham Jurgens Steyn.
Backs: Giorgio Bronzini, Edoardo Gori, Marcello Violi, Tommaso Allan, Carlo Canna, Tommaso Benvenuti, Tommaso Boni, Michele Campagnaro, Luke McLean, Giulio Bisegni, Angelo Esposito, Giovambattista Venditti, Edoardo Padovani.