Gonzalo Quesada names Italy squad for 2026 Six Nations - Two uncapped hopefuls called up

The squad features two potential debutants for Quesada's side, with the Zebre Parma duo of Samuele Locatelli, and centre Damiano Mazza both pushing for their debuts. Locatelli has been in particularly impressive form as of late, as he recently collected the 2024 Serie A Elite MVP award, following a stellar campaign with Viadana, which prompted his URC call-up to Zebre.

There are also significant returns for former England training squad member Paolo Odogwu, who was part of Italy's 2025 summer tour, and his Benetton teammate Matt Gallagher, who returns to the fold nearly a year after his last Six Nations appearance. Zebre halfback Alessandro Fusco also rejoins the group after his last-minute call-up during the autumn campaign.

Speaking on the importance of the upcoming camp, Quesada said: “These days in camp are very important, filled with enthusiasm as we wait to take the field in the oldest rugby tournament in the world against some of the best national teams. These are always moments rich in emotion.

“Our final match of the 2025 Six Nations left a bitter taste because of the result, despite an excellent performance. We must capitalise on the form shown last November—where we adjusted some of our working methodologies—and quickly rediscover our rhythm in just a few training sessions to reach the performance levels we showed against Ireland and Australia in 2025.”

Props: 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)

Hookers: Tommaso Di Bartolomeo (Zebre Parma – 6 caps) Pablo Dimcheff (Colomiers Rugby – 3 caps) Giacomo Nicotera (Stade Français – 36 caps)

Second Row: Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby – 58 caps) Riccardo Favretto (Benetton Rugby – 8 caps) Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby – 67 caps) Andrea Zambonin (Exeter Chiefs – 14 caps)

Back Row: Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby – 33 caps) Alessandro Izekor (Benetton Rugby – 8 caps) Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby – 49 caps) Captain Samuele Locatelli (Zebre Parma – uncapped) David Odiase (Zebre Parma – 3 caps) Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby – 38 caps)

Scrum-halves: Alessandro Fusco (Zebre Parma – 20 caps) Martin Page-Relo (Lyon – 21 caps) Stephen Varney (Exeter Chiefs – 36 caps)

Fly-halves: Giacomo Da Re (Zebre Parma – 6 caps) Paolo Garbisi (Toulon – 49 caps)

Centres: Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby – 40 caps) Leonardo Marin (Benetton Rugby – 17 caps) Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma – uncapped) Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby – 34 caps) Paolo Odogwu (Benetton Rugby – 7 caps)

Back Three: 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)