Italrugby, 33 called up for Six Nations assembly: Lamaro captain, two debutants

There are 33 players summoned by the national rugby team technical commissioner, Gonzalo Quesada, for the gathering to be held in Verona, starting Sunday, Jan. 25, ahead of the 2026 edition of the men&#8217s Six Nations, which will see the Azzurri engaged from Feb. 7 to March 14. Italy will face Scotland in Rome on the first day, Ireland in Dublin (Feb. 14) on the second, France in Lille (Feb. 22) on the third, England in the fourth in the second match at the Stadio Olimpico (March 7) and the last, seven days later, in Cardiff against Wales.

The list includes two absolute rookies: they are Samuele Locatelli, third line, and Damiano Mazza, center, both of whom play for Zebre Parma. The most represented club is Benetton, with 14 athletes summoned. They are followed by Zebre, with 8 summoned, Exeter Chtefs and Northampton Saints with 2, Saracens, Colomiers, Stade Français, Bordeaux and Lyon with one athlete called up to the Azzurri. Tommaso Allan, Ange Capuozzo, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Sebastian Negri, Jacopo Trulla and Ross Vintcent will not be there due to injury.

Below is the list of forwards, 18 in all (5 props, 3 hooker, 4 second and 6 third lines): Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby, 69 caps), Danilo Fischetti (Northampton Saints, 58 caps), Muhamed Hasa (Zebre Parma, 4 caps), Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 36 caps), Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps), Tommaso Di Bartolomeo (Zebre Parma, 6 caps), Pablo Dimcheff (Colomiers Rugby, 3 caps), Giacomo Nicotera (Stade Français, 36 caps), Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 58 caps), Riccardo Favretto (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps), Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby, 67 caps), Andrea Zambonin (Exeter Chiefs, 14 caps), Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps), Alessandro Izekor (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps), Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 49 caps), Samuele Locatelli (Zebre Parma, rookie), David Odiasé (Zebre Parma, 3 caps), Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby, 38 caps).

These, however, middles and three-quarters (3 scrum-halves and 2 d’openers, 5 centers and as many elements for the extended triangle): Alessandro Fusco (Zebre Parma, 20 caps), Martin Page-Relo (Bordeaux, 21 caps), Stephen Varney (Exeter Chiefs, 36 caps), Giacomo Da Re (Zebre Parma, 6 caps), Paolo Garbisi (Toulon, 49 caps), Juan Ignacio Brex (Toulon, 49 caps), Leonardo Marin (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps), Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma, rookie), Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby, 34 caps), Paolo Odogwu (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps), Matt Gallagher (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps), Monty Ioane (Lyon, 42 caps), Louis Lynagh (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps), Lorenzo Pani (Zebre Parma, 8 caps), Edoardo Todaro (Northampton Saints, 1 cap).

In the 2025 edition of the Tournament, Italy finished in fifth position, winning one game (22-15 at home against Wales) and losing the other four: 31-19 in Scotland, 73-24 in Rome against France, 47-24 at Twickenham against England and 22-17 at home against Ireland, a match in which the Azzurri cornered the winning national team of the previous edition.