Gloucester captain Bortolami is back in the Italy squad to face Scotland

Italy welcome back lock Marco Bortolami and centre Andrea Marcato to the squad for the Six Nations game against Scotland at Murrayfield on 28 February.

Both players missed the 38-9 defeat by Ireland in Rome through injury, but have returned to fitness to be included in coach Nick Mallett's 24-man squad.

Scrum-half Pablo Canavosio and hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini have also made the squad for the first time this year.

And Giulio Rubini has been handed his first call-up to the national team.

The presence of Bortolami and Marcato will be a boost for Mallett, especially as he will be without another of his first-choice picks, Andrea Masi of Biarritz.

The full-back was banned for three weeks for a tackle on Irish counterpart Rob Kearney, for which he was sin-binned in the first minute of the reverse at the Stadio Flaminio.

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Mallet has Canavosio of Viadana and Calvisano's Ghiraldini at his disposal again after the pair missed the Ireland match and the opening game against England at Twickenham through injury.

The squad will return to training on Sunday in preparation for the game at Murrayfield.

The Azzurri and their Scottish hosts are both eager to kick-start their championship campaigns, having both lost their first two matches.

Italy are in the wooden spoon position by virtue of points scored and conceded, but they will be confident of leap-frogging Frank Hadden's side as they have defeated Scotland in their last two Six Nations meetings.

After succumbing easily to Wales in their first match in Edinburgh, the Scots gave a better showing against France in Paris.

Italy squad:

Forwards: Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Marco Bortolami (Gloucester), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester), Carlo Antonio del Fava (Ulster), Santiago Dellape (Toulon), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Calvisano), Carlos Nieto (Gloucester), Fabio Ongaro (Saracens), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais), Salvatore Perugini (Stade Toulousain), Ignacio Rouyet (Viadana), Josh Sole (Viadana), Alessandro Zanni (Calvisano).

Backs: Gonzale Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), Gonzalo Garcia (Calvisano), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais); Andrea Marcato (Benetton Treviso), Paul Griffen (Calvisano), Luke McLean (Calvisano), Andrea Bacchetti (Rovigo), Pablo Canavosio (Viadana), Matteo Pratichetti (Calvisano), Giulio Rubini (Overmach Cariparma).

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