Italian coach Nick Mallett has named six uncapped players in a 30-strong training squad ahead of the Six Nations championship.
Mallett will assemble his players in Rome for a five-day camp at the end of the month. The Azzurri kick-off their championship campaign against England at Twickenham on Saturday, 7 February.
All six newcomers play for Italian clubs, with the 18-year-old utility back Tommaso Benvenuti still being part of the National Youth Academy.
The uncapped half-dozen are: Andrea Bacchetti (Rovigo), Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), Simone Favaro (Rovigo), Jean-Francois Montauriol (Casinò di Venezia), Gilberto Pavan (Overmach Cariparma), Giulio Rubini (Overmach Cariparma).
Italy squad: Matias Aguero (Saracens), Andrea Bacchetti (Rovigo), Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Marco Bortolami (Gloucester), Gonzalo Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Pablo Canavosio (Viadana), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), Carlo Antonio Del Fava (Ulster), Santiago Dellape’ (Toulon), Simone Favaro (Rovigo), Gonzalo Garcia (Calvisano), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Calvisano), Andrea Marcato (Benetton Treviso), Andrea Masi (Biarritz), Luke McLean (Calvisano), Jean Francois Montauriol (Casinò di Venezia), Carlos Nieto (Gloucester), Fabio Ongaro (Saracens), Sergio Parrise (Stade Francais), Gilberto Pavan (Overmach Cariparma), Salvatore Perugini (Toulouse),Matteo Pratichetti (Calvisano), Tommaso Reato (Rovigo), Kaine Robertson (Viadana), Giulio Rubini (Overmach Cariparma), Josh Sole (Viadana), Giulio Toniolatti (Almaviva UR Capitolina), Alessandro Zanni (Calvisano).
