He won his first senior international cap for Italy on 17 November 2004, in 1–0 friendly home win against Finland under Italian coach Marcello Lippi. He was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and, while not expecting to play at all, was deployed as a substitute in a 1–0 victory against Australia in the second round, following Marco Materazzi's sending-off. He subsequently appeared again, starting in his side's 3–0 victory over Ukraine in the quarter-finals following Materazzi's suspension and Alessandro Nesta's injury; he appeared for the full 90 minutes in this fixture, and kept clean sheets in both matches. Italy went on to win the World Cup final that year on penalties over France.