Italian coach Leo Epifania is relying on old stories from ancestors long gone to fire up his players ahead of the World Cup in England which begins this week.

Italy is spearheaded by the NRL’s Nathan Brown and Cooper Johns.

“We need to spend more time on educating players,” Epifania told theroar.com.au’s Rugby League World Cup podcast.

“We’ve brought Italian companies in who come in and run programs on what it was like in Italy before people migrated, what it was like on the journey when they migrated and what it was like when they got here, the difficulties and tough times.

“We want to win games of football obviously but I need to have a clear understanding about how to motivate the players.

“I want them to understand in their hearts that resilient people suffered for these players to get the opportunity to play in the World Cup.

“When they get the Italian jersey, all my players understand what we call the journey to the jersey and how it came about.”

Italy play Scotland in their opening pool game this weekend.