Italy coach Conor O'Shea has made five changes to his side to face Ireland in the Six Nations on Sunday.
Braam Steyn switches from flanker to No 8 in place of 35-year-old Sergio Parisse, who was ruled out after suffering concussion while playing for Stade Francais last weekend.
Four of Italy's changes come in the pack as New Zealand-born Jimmy Tuivaiti makes his first start at blindside flanker, replacing Sebastian Negri.
Lock Federico Ruzza also makes his full debut with David Sisi dropping to the bench, while Maxime Mbanda slots in for Steyn at openside.
Prop Andrea Lovotti comes into the front row for Nicola Quaglio with hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini taking over the captaincy from Parisse.
The only change in the backline sees Tito Tebaldi replace Guglielmo Palazzani at scrum-half, while Ireland-born Ian McKinley is named among the replacements.
Italy have also lost their last seven Tests against Ireland, with their only Six Nations win coming in 2013 when they prevailed 22-15 in Rome.
The teams met in Chicago in November, where Ireland ran out 54-7 winners.
Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Angelo Esposito, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi; 1 Andrea Lovotti, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (c), 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Federico Ruzza, 5 Dean Budd, 6 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 7 Maxime Mbanda, 8 Braam Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 David Sisi, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Tommaso Castello.