With Treviso, Faliva proved to be a class player and earned his first international call-up from coach Georges Coste against then-World Champions South Africa in Durban in June 1999.

He is second for number of national titles won (7) after Massimiliano Perziano (8) and alongside other players such as Denis and Manuel Dallan, Carlo Checchinato and Romano Bettarello.

Excluded from the Italian squad due to the presence of Andrea Lo Cicero, Martin Castrogiovanni, Salvatore Perugini, Carlos Nieto and Federico Pucciariello amongst others, Faliva remained one of the best props in the national league.

In 2003 Faliva and fellow international and Treviso player Fabio Ongaro were accused of using Epoetin beta (NeoRecormon) for performance enhancement purposes.

[10] The Public Prosecutor for this case recommended an 18-months jail spell and a 15,000 Euro fine for the player, but in 2009 the trial was concluded with a sentence of absolution for Faliva and Ongaro, as no proof of either of them using or detaining the doping substance could be presented.