In the backs the Blues bring in Dafydd Hewitt to the centre with Gavin Evans moving to the bench and Richie Rees starting at scrum half with Lewis Jones also moving to the bench.
There is one change to the forwards with young openside Thomas Young starting. Mamma Molitika moves to blindside with Michael Paterson in the second row in place of Deiniol Jones who moves to the bench.
The Blues will be looking to get back to winning ways, having recorded three successive defeats, the region’s worst run since 2009. They face an Aironi side who won their most recent home game in the RaboDirect PRO12, 25-19, over Edinburgh in round four
Cardiff Blues took both encounters last season, and have never lost in ten previous matches against Italian teams.
Aironi are looking for their second straight home win after beating Edinburgh two weeks ago.
There are several changes from the team that lost to Leinster last week. In the backs, Gilberto Pavan will play at outside centre alongside Gabriel Pizarro. Naas Olivier returns at fly half to pair up with Tito Tebaldi, who is back at scrum-half after playing fly-half in Dublin.
There are two changes in the back row, where only Nick Williams preserves his spot in the starting line-up. Nicola Cattina and Frans Viljoen are the flankers. For the sixth game in a row George Biagi and Joshua Furno make up the second row. In the front row Matias Aguero returns in place of Alberto De Marchi, with Fabio Staibano at tight head and captain Roberto Santamaria as hooker.
Aironi 15 Ruggero Trevisan; 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Gilberto Pavan, 12 Gabriel Pizarro, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti; 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Tito Tebaldi; 8 Nick Williams, 7 Nicola Cattina, 6 Frans Viljoen; 5 George Biagi, 4 Joshua Furno; 3 Fabio Staibano, 2 Roberto Santamaria (cap), 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Luca Redolfini, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Simone Favaro, 21 Tyson Keats, 22 Roberto Quartaroli, 23 Riccardo Pavan.
Blues 15. Chris Czekaj 14. Alex Cuthbert 13. Casey Laulala 12. Dafydd Hewitt 11. Tom James 10. Ceri Sweeney 9. Richie Rees 8. Xavier Rush 7. Thomas Young 6. Maama Molitika 5. Paul Tito (c) 4. Michael Paterson 3. Scott Andrews 2. Rhys Williams 1. Sam Hobbs
Replacements: 16. Ryan Tyrrell17. Nathan Trevett 18. Ryan Harford 19. Deiniol Jones 20. Luke Hamilton 21. Lewis Jones 22. Gareth Davies 23. Gavin Evans
