The 24-year-old was influential in Edinburgh’s fourth place finish in the Celtic League last season.

The Dumfries-born player made his Scotland debut during the RBS 6 Nations campaign and is in Argentina with Frank Hadden’s squad ahead of the double header against the Pumas.

De Luca said: “Edinburgh is the right environment for me and I am absolutely delighted to have extended my contract for another two years.

“I genuinely believe Edinburgh is a club that is going places.

“When I rejoined the team last summer nobody outside the camp predicted we would finish as high as we eventually did in the table.

“But there is a tremendous amount of self belief in the Edinburgh squad and that can’t be underestimated.

“The fact is that we are a very young side, so everything points to this team continuing to improve and challenging for silverware.

“I really enjoyed my first season back at Edinburgh and I’m looking forward to enjoying that same level of success over the next few years.”

Edinburgh head coach Andy Robinson underlined De Luca’s importance in his plans.

Robinson said: “As soon as I joined in October, I recognised what an exciting rugby player Nick is.

“Not only does he have fantastic skill levels but he also has a tremendous amount of physicality which makes him an asset to any team’s midfield.”