Alessandro Garbisi at scrum-half for Italy in Six Nations opener against England

Garbisi is included ahead of Stephen Varney who started three of Italy's four games at last year's World Cup, as new head coach Gonzalo Quesada named his first team since taking over from Kieran Crowley.

Quesada named Allan at full-back, making his 80th appearance for Italy, with the other Garbisi brother, Paolo, chosen at fly-half.

Tommaso Menoncello makes a welcome return at centre, having missed the World Cup through injury and lock Federico Ruzza will earn his 50th cap.

"It's been a busy week of work. There is great enthusiasm throughout the group for the Six Nations opener. The staff and all the players have shown great commitment by trying to quickly dive into new methodologies," Quesada said.

The new coach has gone with experience in the starting team but has named uncapped prop Mirco Spagnolo on the bench.

Italy team:

15-Tommaso Allan, 14-Ange Capuozzo, 13-Ignacio Brex, 12-Tommaso Menoncello, 11-Monty Ioane, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Alessandro Garbisi, 8-Lorenzo Cannone, 7-Michele Lamaro, 6-Sebastian Negri, 5-Federico Ruzza, 4-Niccolo Cannone, 3-Pietro Ceccarelli, 2-Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1-Danilo Fischetti.

Replacements: 16-Giacomo Nicotera, 17-Mirco Spagnolo, 18-Giosue Zilocchi, 19-Andrea Zambonin, 20-Edoardo Iachizzi, 21-Manuel Zuliani, 22-Stephen Varney, 23-Lorenzo Pani.