Italy coach Nick Mallett has made four changes for Sunday's Six Nations match against France and hopes the refereeing in Paris will be better than in the heavy defeat by Wales.

Fit-again Kaine Robertson comes back in for Alberto Sgarbi on the wing, prop Andrea Lo Cicero replaces Salvatore Perugini, Marco Bortolami returns in place of lock Santiago Dellape and Alessandro Zanni fills in for Mauro Bergamasco.

Flanker Bergamasco has been banned for 13 weeks for deliberately placing his finger in the eye of Wales full-back Lee Byrne late in the 47-8 defeat in Cardiff on Feb 23.

Mallett (pictured) did not condone his actions but said Italy have written to the IRB, the citing commission and referee Dave Pearson to complain about incidents which they say provoked Bergamasco.

"In the last minutes of that game there were things that happened to Mauro on the field which caused him to lose his head. He was either punched or elbowed in the back of the head two minutes from the end," Mallett said.

"When taking a chip he was tackled high and injured his shoulder in the last seconds. There's no excuse for the way he behaved but there is a reason."

Mallett said the loss of Bergamasco would be especially felt against the creative French but that his side are confident of improving after three straight defeats in this season's competition.

"Mauro Bergamasco is the only back row player capable of tackling the three quarters, his anticipation is good," he said.

"We made lots of mistakes against Wales. They put us under lots of pressure but we've looked at the videos to be able to play better and the players are anxious to make up for what happened."

Viadana's uncapped Jacobus Erasmus is on the bench.

Team: 15-Andrea Marcato, 14-Kaine Robertson, 13-Gonzalo Canale, 12-Mirco Bergamasco, 11-Ezio Galon, 10-Andrea Masi, 9-Simon Picone, 8-Sergio Parisse (captain), 7-Alessandro Zanni, 6-Josh Sole, 5-Marco Bortolami, 4-Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3-Martin Castrogiovanni, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1-Andrea Lo Cicero.

Replacements: 16-Fabio Ongaro, 17-Carlos Nieto, 18-Salvatore Perugini, 19-Jacobus Erasmus, 20-Pietro Travagli, 21-Enrico Patrizio, 22-Alberto Sgarbi.

Reuters