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Alberto Gilardino earned a 1-1 friendly draw in Switzerland as the Azzurri continue their World Cup preparations with an injury scare for Fabio Grosso.
Francesco Totti was given his first start since fracturing his ankle on February 19, but Gianluca Zambrotta is out for 15-20 days with a thigh injury. Cristian Zaccardo of Palermo took the right-back role with Fabio Grosso on the left, auditioning for the roles in the opener against Ghana. Alessandro Nesta was also rested.
As Totti is not 100 per cent fit, Marcello Lippi fielded a new 4-3-2-1 system with Alessandro Del Piero helping out in support of lone striker Alberto Gilardino. The Swiss side included Milan midfielder Johan Vogel.
The Swiss had a sprightly start, though Gigi Buffon comfortably held Daniel Gygax's effort after nine minutes.
However, it was Italy who broke the deadlock moments later. Grosso found far too much space down the left flank and his low curling cross found Gilardino to tap in from five yards after avoiding the marking of Arsenal's Philippe Senderos.
Fabio Cannavaro performed a great acrobatic intervention on Tranquillo Barnetta's free kick as it threatened to reach Senderos from six yards.
Switzerland equalised with a spectacular strike from Lille man Gygax. A midfield error allowed him to surge forward and he unleashed a rocket from outside the area that swung past Buffon towards the far post.
Soon after, Grosso also made a mistake to let in Alexander Frei, but Buffon was ready for his weak lob.
Gennaro Gattuso threaded through for Gilardino, who was tripped by Senderos on the edge of the D, but Andrea Pirlo's free kick was straight into the wall. Cannavaro closed down another Frei effort and on the stroke of half-time ilardino was stopped for a very tight offside decision on Totti's pass.
Zaccardo was booked for tripping Magnin after the Palermo man had been left behind. From the resulting free kick, Magnin's glancing header was just over the bar.
Lippi made some changes at half-time, introducing Luca Toni, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Daniele De Rossi and Massimo Oddo. Zaccardo moved to central defence so Oddo could take the right-back role, while Totti was now behind two centre-forwards.
De Rossi was not short on confidence and tried a long-range effort after two minutes. Toni intercepted a wayward pass, but couldn't get enough power on the shot as he spun round.
Another substitution was forced, as Grosso limped off with a bruised ankle and made way for Parma's Daniele Bonera.
There was a chaotic move on the hour mark, as Iaquinta - twice - and Toni were closed down with desperate challenges inside the area. Toni chested down a long Pirlo pass, but was intercepted before he could get the shot in.
There were worrying scenes on 66 minutes when goalkeeper Fabio Coltorti came tearing out as Iaquinta tried to hook down the pass and went studs first into the inside of his knee. The Udinese player was clearly in some pain and the Swiss shot-stopper was perhaps fortunate to escape with only a booking after this dangerous tackle, but Iaquinta was able to continue after treatment.
From the resulting free kick, Pirlo touched on for Totti's fierce effort, which was deflected into the path of Toni, but the header was caught by Coltorti.
Gattuso was also yellow carded for a very high tackle on Christoph Spycher. Simone Perrotta replaced Pirlo for the final 15 minutes, while De Rossi nodded a Totti free kick off target and fired wide on the counter-attack.
It may not be a morale-boosting victory, but the Azzurri stretch their unbeaten run to 17 games under Lippi and will face the Ukraine on Friday evening, also in Switzerland.
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