The talismanic number eight replaced Samuela Vunisa and will take over as skipper from hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini, who misses the match due to a thigh injury.
Flanker Simon Favaro makes his first World Cup start after playing 19 minutes as a replacement in the opening 32-10 defeat by France.
Italy beat Canada 23-18 in their second game and sit third in the group but they must overcome Ireland to retain a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Team: 1-Matias Aguero, 2-Andrea Manici, 3-Lorenzo Cittadini,
4-Ouintin Geldenhuys, 5-Josh Furno, 6-Francesco Minto, 7-Simone Favaro, 8-Sergio Parisse (captain); 9-Edoardo Gori, 10-Tommaso Allan, 11-Giovanbattista Venditti, 12-Gonzalo Garcia, 13-Michele Capagnaro, 14-Leonardo Sarto, 15-Luke McLean.
Replacements: 16-Davide Giazzon, 17-Michele Rizzo, 18-Dario Chistolini, 19-Alessandro Zanni, 20-Mauro Bergamasco, 21-Guglielmo Palazzani, 22-Carlo Canna, 23-Tommaso Benvenuti.
(Reporting by Ed Osmond; editing by Justin Palmer)
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