Last season's thrilling final win over city rivals Roma was the undoubted highlight of Vladimir Petkovic's reign at the club - the coach was sacked last week after agreeing a move to Switzerland's national team in July.
Edy Reja's subsequent return to the Stadio Olimpico has produced mixed results thus far, with Saturday's frustrating 0-0 draw at Bologna following a 1-0 win over Inter on home soil.
The Rome outfit have won four of their last five home games against Parma, the Emilia-Romagna club last beating Lazio 3-1 in March 2012, a result sealed by Sergio Floccari's double, who was on loan from the capital at the time.
Parma head into the contest in good form, having avoided defeat for nine games - a run stretching back to November 2, when they lost to Serie A table-toppers Juventus - and a 3-0 weekend win over struggling Livorno will have boosted confidence even further in Roberto Donadoni's squad.
Sunday's 4-3 defeat at Sassuolo was one of the worst results in the club's history and the Coppa Italia may be their only hope of salvation this term.
January recruits Adil Rami and Keisuke Honda may be in line to make their first starts for the club, with the latter having come off the bench on Sunday while the former was unused.
The tie will represent Spezia's first outing since Serie B's mid-season break and they will have been stewing over the festive period after a 4-1 defeat to Latina before the new year.
The sides met at Stadio San Paolo in August - Rafael Benitez's men sealing a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon.
In Wednesday's other tie, Serie B's Siena will target an upset when they travel to top-flight strugglers Catania.
