The centre came off the bench against Edinburgh at Scotstoun last Saturday having recovered from a knee injury and starts at inside centre in Italy.
He is joined in midfield by Stafford McDowall outside of a half-back pairing of George Horne and Adam Hastings.
Ruaridh Jackson is another one of ten changes to the starting line-up at full back and is joined in the back three by Nikola Matawalu and Robbie Nairn.
Jamie Bhatti and Siua Halanukonuka come in to the front row, starting either side of Grant Stewart. Behind them Tim Swinson and Scott Cummings pack down in the engine room.
Ryan Wilson captains the side. He is joined by Chris Fusaro and Adam Ashe at the back of the scrum.
On the bench, Alex Allan returns from suspension and Lee Jones is fit again having recovered from a knee injury.
Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Dave Rennie said: "We've had a good week of preparation and are looking forward to the challenge of Benetton away.
"Keiran Crowley has done an excellent job around recruitment and development and they are now a genuine play-off contender.
"Our strength has been our ability to convert opportunities, but we haven't been clinical enough over the past couple of weeks making more handling errors than in the previous five games. That needs to be better this week."
14 Robbie Nairn
13 Stafford McDowall
12 Sam Johnson
11 Nikola Matawalu
10 Adam Hastings
9 George Horne
1 Jamie Bhatti
2 Grant Stewart
3 Siua Halanukonuka
4 Tim Swinson
5 Scott Cummings
6 Ryan Wilson (Captain)
7 Chris Fusaro
8 Adam Ashe
Substitutes
16 Kevin Bryce
17 Alex Allan
18 D'arcy Rae
19 Robert Harley
20 Matt Smith
21 Nick Frisby
22 Brandon Thomson
23 Lee Jones
Unavailable players: Fraser Brown (knee) Alex Dunbar (thigh), Zander Fagerson (ankle), Stuart Hogg (hip), Peter Horne (knee) Oli Kebble (chest), George Turner (ankle)