The Eternal City provides a fitting setting for a meeting between two sides whose troubles in the Six Nations seem never-ending.
For the second year running, Scotland and Italy face each other on the final weekend, in a wooden-spoon decider.
Andy Robinson's men were the victors at Murrayfield 12 months ago, sentencing Italy to their ninth bottom-place finish. They begin as marginal favourites again.
But their desperately poor record away from home means Scottish fans will travel to Rome with greater quantities of hope than expectation.
The desire to save face and avoid the Wooden Spoon ensures this is anything but a dead rubber.
Nevertheless, victory offers only slim consolation in the context of another tournament when Italy and Scotland failed to deliver any significant improvement on previous showings.
Both have had their moments of hope. Two tries against England gave Italy a whiff of a famous victory.
Scotland led France and should have beaten the Auld Enemy - their Calcutta Cup hopes eventually unravelling into a farce of missed opportunities.
But those were rare bright spots on a narrowing horizon. In truth, neither team has been able to produce a complete 80-minute performance in any of their games.
For all Jacques Brunel's talk of styling Italy in a more expansive attacking fashion, their strength remains in defence and in the pack, as they demonstrated in ensuring Wales did not have things all their own way last week.
Robinson's men have shown flashes of flair and promise thanks to the progress of Stuart Hogg and David Denton, amongst others, but against Ireland last week their defence capitulated.
That was another under-par performance on their travels. If they produce anything as ragged in Rome they are unlikely to add to the two victories they have enjoyed in their six previous championship visits.
Italy : 15-Massi, 14-Venditti, 13-Benvenuti, 12-Canale, 11-Bergamasco, 10-Burton, 9-Gori; 1-Lo Cicero, 2-Ongaro, 3-Castrogiovanni, 4-Geldenhuys, 5-Bortolami, 6-Zanni, 7-Barbieri, 8-Parisse.
Replacements: 16-D'Apice, 17-Cittadini, 18-Furno, 19-Favaro, 20-Vosawai, 21-Botes, 22-Toniolatti
Scotland : 15-Hogg, 14-Evans, 13-De Luca, 12-Morrison, 11-Lamont, 10-Laidlaw, 9-Blair; 1-Jacobsen, 2-Ford, 3-Cross, 4-Gray, 5-Hamilton, 6-Barclay, 7-Rennie, 8-Denton
Replacements: 16-Lawson, 17-Murray, 18-Kellock, 19-Vernon, 20-Cusiter, 21-Jackson, 22-Cuthbert
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee : Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges : George Clancy (Ireland), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TV : Tony Redmond (Ireland)
