Two of the switches have come in the three-quarters with Treviso centre Simon Picone and Viadana winger Kaine Robertson replacing Matteo Barbini and Roberto Pedrazzi respectively for the contest at Rome's Stadio Flaminio.

Robertson had initially been selected in the team to face England in Italy's previous match but missed out because of injury.

The other new face from the team that lost 39-7 at Twickenham is lock Santiago Dellape, who will take over from Carlo Antonio Del Fava in the second row.

The match has ramifications at both ends of the table with Italy, without a victory in the championship, seeking to avoid the wooden spoon and France still holding out hope of retaining the Six Nations title they won last year.

G Peens (L'Aquila); A Masi (Viadana), S Picone (Treviso), L Nitoglia (Calvisano), K Robertson (Viadana); L Orquera (Padova), A Troncon (Treviso); A Lo Cicero (L'Aquila), F Ongaro (Treviso), S Perugini (Calvisano), M Bortolami (Narbonne), S Dellape (Agen), D Dal Maso (Treviso), A Persico (Agen), S Parisse (Treviso).

Replacements: R Pedrazzi (Viadana), L Castrogiovanni (Calvisano), CA Del Fava (Parma), S Orlando (Treviso), P Griffen (Calvisano), C Festuccia (Gran Parma), R De Marigny (Parma).