Italy have made five changes, one positional, from the side that lost to France for Saturday's match against Wales in Cardiff, but two of the players called up, the second-row Carlo Del Fava and the flanker Paul Derbyshire, need to pass fitness tests to claim their places.
Del Fava was one of Italy's try scorers against France and he has been earmarked to replace the experienced Marco Bortolami. The Azzurri's other try was scored by the scrum-half Pablo Canavosio, who had claimed the winner off the bench against Scotland in the previous round, and his reward is also to win a start.
Kaine Robertson returns to the right wing in place of Andrea Masi, who moves into the centre with Gonzalo Canale dropping to the bench. Derbyshire, who like Del Fava has a leg injury, will replace Josh Sole if he proves his fitness.
Italy have only once won away from home in 11 seasons in the Six Nations, although they drew with Wales at the Millennium Stadium four years ago when Ramiro Pez missed a late penalty that would have won the game.
"We are building as a team and want to start getting results away from Rome," Craig Gower, the Italy fly-half, said. "Wales have not had their best Six Nations but I would not describe them as vulnerable. We know they will come out firing and we have to find ways of cracking their defence.
"We have to do the basics right and see what comes. We defended well as a team in our first three games but we missed tackles in France and that cost us. We are changing from a team that used to be known as forward-oriented to one which uses the ball more. As an outside-half, I do not want to give the ball away all the time but you have to be smart about the way you play and my job is to make it work, getting us in the right positions and playing a little bit.
"Wales are known for their rush defence but they have conceded 10 tries this Six Nations. Every defence is breakable. It comes down to controlling the ball and it is down to what we do. It is going to be a big challenge for us, but we are going into the game looking to win it."
Italy team to face Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 2.30pm) L McLean (Treviso); K Robertson (Viadana), A Masi (Racing Métro), G Garcia (Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français); C Gower (Bayonne), P Canavosio (Viadana); S Perugini (Bayonne), L Ghiraldini (Treviso, captain), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), C Del Fava (Viadana) or M Bortolami (Gloucester), Q Geldenhuys (Viadana), P Derbyshire (Padova) or J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), A Zanni (Treviso). Replacements F Ongaro (Saracens), M Agüero (Saracens), M Bortolami (Gloucester) or V Bernabo, (Rugby Roma), J Sole (Viadana) or M Vosawai, T Tebaldi (Gran Parma), R Bocchino (Rovigo), G Canale (Clermont).
