Australian rugby coach Robbie Deans praised Italy's traditional forward strength ahead of Saturday's test match in Padua.
Deans, who is fielding a powerful side against Italy, said the Italian scrum was stronger than those of its other opponents in the November tour: England, France, Wales and the Barbarians.
''I think the pack (Italy coach) Nick Mallett has at his disposal is the strongest of any we're going to face on this tour,'' Deans told the press.
Italy's forwards are among the most feared in international rugby and Mallett's biggest problem, like his predecessors, is getting the backs to exploit the platforms they provide, pundits agree.
The Azzurri bossed Australia's scrum in the last meeting between the sides two years ago in Rome when the twice world champions scraped a 25-18 victory thanks to a late Stirling Mortlock try.
Australia goes into Saturday's game hot favourites after beating New Zealand at home and world champions South Africa away before losing a close Tri Nations decider against the All Blacks in Sydney.
Deans has made eight changes to that side, a couple because players have preferred to stay at home, but Deans has shown full respect for Italy by naming top-notch replacements.
''Underestimating Italy would be a serious mistake,'' Deans said.
Berrick Barnes comes in for Matt Giteau at fly half while Timana Tahu returns to form a centre pairing with captain Sterling Mortlock.
The Wallabies will also have a pair of young wingers in Lachie Turner and Digby Ioane while three even younger Under 20 stars, scrum half Sekope Kepu, fly half Quade Cooper and full back James O'Connor, are raring to come off the bench.
Ex-captain George Smith and three other forwards have not joined the tour.
Padua has a special meaning for Australia because David Campese, the wing legend of Italian origin, played his 100th test there 12 years ago.
For Italy, Mallett has named a new all-Argentine centre pairing of Gonzalo Canale and Gonzalo Garcia, who earns his third cap after impressing on Italy's southern hemisphere tour last summer where he became the 27th Argentine to play for Italy.
Andrea Marcato, whose 80th-minute conversion of a Leonardo Ghiraldini try gave Italy a thrilling 13-12 win over Argentina in Cordoba in June, wins his second cap at fly half and 9th in all.
Pablo Canavasio, who has won most of his 21 previous caps on the wing, comes in as Marcato's partner at scrum half.
Italo-Argentinian captain Sergio Parisse, who has just extended his Stade Francais contract by three years, pulls on the No.8 jersey for the 55th time.
As expected, Parisse's back-row partners are clubmate Mauro Bergamasco and Josh Sole.
After Australia, Italy have a rematch with the Argentines in Turin on November 15 and a game against the Pacific Islanders in Reggio Emilia on November 22.
Mallett hopes the games will let Italy find a better forward-back combination to repeat their Six Nations coup of 2007, when they won two matches for the first time.
The former South Africa coach, who replaced Pierre Berbizier after the 2007 World Cup, could not repeat the Frenchman's feat.
Italy finished bottom of the championship again last spring, winning only one game.
Mallett said his first year at the helm, including the summer tour that also saw a 26-0 defeat in South Africa, had been ''exciting''.
He said Italy had a ''great group spirit'' but acknowledged that he had had problems in ''moulding the team''.
Next year's Six Nations schedule sees Italy facing England away on February 9, Ireland at home on February 15, Scotland away on February 28, Wales at home on March 14 and France at home on March 21.
Here are the teams for the Padua match (14:00 GMT).
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Pablo Canavasio, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Substitutes: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Tommaso Reato, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Matteo Pratichetti.
Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Timana Tahu, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Hugh McMeniam, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Matt Dunning, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Subs: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 David Pocock, 20 Matt Giteau, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 James O'Connor.
