The Romania captain suffered the injury in a clash of heads in a Serie A match on January 6 but is now back in full training and was named in the league leaders' squad on Tuesday for Wednesday's home game with Livorno.
The 29-year-old has been trying out several protective caps supplied by Canterbury, which also provided Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech with a similar rugby-style headguard after the Czech international sustained the same injury in 2006.
"In football it's one of the first examples I can think of," Franco Pasquetti, Canterbury distributor in Italy, told Reuters.
"One of the most famous cases was Cech but he is a goalkeeper."
"An issue like this has never arisen in football but there can't be any problems. It's made entirely of rubber, it can't damage other players," he said, aware several players have worn facemasks in matches to protect broken cheekbones.
"The helmet is simply protection, but it's also a psychological and mental aid. The ball when it hits the cap will be softer than the elbow of another player."
Cech was caught up in controversy as Canterbury's logo clashed with Chelsea kitmakers Adidas and Chivu has the same problem with Inter sponsors Nike.
