It's mouth-watering. The thought of Juventus, Napoli and Genoa back in Italy's top flight to fight for credibility once again after seasons of heartbreak. All teams starting off with equal points - something Italy has not seen for quite a while.

A tranquil off-season, without controversy surrounding referee-fixing or the 2006 FIFA World Cup victory by Italy, was just what Italian football needed. AC Milan didn't register until late in the acquisition department while some of the smaller clubs were frantic to strengthen their squads thanks much to the arrival of the "rising giants" from Serie B.

A quick look at the big four from the 2006/07 season indicates that they are all content with their current squads with only minor changes made. Defending Serie A Champion Inter Milan was tight on its usually generous wallet with striker David Suazo joining from Cagliari and left-side defender Christian Chivu sneaking in from Roma to cover for World Cup winning defender Fabio Grosso who departed for French champion Lyon.

Inter Milan - Julio Cesar, Maicon Cordoba Materazzi CHIVU, Vieira Cambiasso J.Zanetti, Stankovic, Crespo Ibrahimovic *new signings in capital letters.

AS Roma strengthened mainly its midfield and defence with the acquisitions of Esposito from Cagliari and Giuly from Barcelona. Brazilian Cicinho was signed from Real Madrid to back up Panucci and country-man Juan will partner Mexes in the centre of defence to help cover the absence of Chivu while Wilhelmsson leaves for Bolton and Tavano for Livorno. Lacking just that bit of depth in the attack department although Vucinic is no slouch. A real contender for the title assuming Totti is fit.

Roma - Doni, Panucci Mexes JUAN Tonetto, De Rossi Pizarro, Taddei Perrotta Mancini, Totti

Cross town rival Lazio opted for right-sided Argentine Lionel Scaloni from Racing Santander to fill the void left by Azzurri and now AC Milan defender Massimo Oddo. The Biancoceleste also signed midfielders Meghni from Bologna and Del Nero from Brescia but expect more of the same from last season regarding its starting eleven.

Lazio - Ballotta, SCALONI Siviglia Stendardo Zauri, Mudingayi Ledesma Mutarelli, Mauri, Pandev Rocchi

UEFA Champions League holders AC Milan were so quiet in the transfer market after deciding to only try for Ronaldinho, Eto'o or Shevchenko until Brazilian starlet Pato created some interest after a superb season with Internacional. The 17 year-old eventually signed for the Rossoneri after offers from Chelsea and Inter and what better way to perfect your craft than to learn from Pirlo and Kaka?

AC Milan - Dida, Oddo Nesta Maldini Jankulovski, Gattuso Pirlo Seedorf, Kakà, Ronaldo Inzaghi

Another boost for Milan's already formidable midfield sees the arrival of Brazilian Emerson from Real Madrid.

Brazlian striker Ricardo Oliveira leaves Milan for Real Zaragoza after failing to impress in his first season while third-string 'keeper Storari leaves for Spanish side Levante. AusItalia would like to pay tribute to Azzurri legend Alessandro Costacurta who is now retired. An unchanged and experienced line-up sees Milan as the main threat to Inter.

Of Italy's UEFA Cup contenders Fiorentina look the most likely for success and is joined by Palermo and Empoli. La Viola lost Luca Toni to Bayern Munich but snatched up former Azzurri striker Christian Vieri and recent Azzurri midfielder Francesco Semioli who will help out Mutu, Montolivo and Pazzini in attack. There are many youthful additions to the Fiorentina squad including Azzurrini striker Cacia (from Piacenza), Vanden Borre (from Anderlecht), Mazuch (from Brno) and Lupoli (from Derby County but will probably be loaned out). Fiorentina is a dark horse for the title and should qualify for Champions League in 2008/09.

Fiorentina - Frey, Ujfalusi Dainelli Gamberini Pasqual, Donadel Montolivo, Santana Mutu SEMIOLI, Pazzini

Palermo should push for a top seven finish once again after securing the services of former Italy, Benfica and Juventus striker Fabrizio Miccoli (who replaces Davide Di Michele) and young Serb attacker Jankovic while AusItalian Mark Bresciano remains with the Sicilian club after a failed transfer to Manchester City. Palermo's season, much like last year's, will depend on the fitness of attacking ace Amauri.

Palermo - Fontana, Zaccardo Barzagli RINAUDO Pisano, Diana Guana Simplicio JANKOVIC, MICCOLI Amauri

Empoli has lost midfield dynamo Almiron to Juventus and opted for former Lecce midfielder Giacomazzi and Marchisio from Juventus as back-up. Expect more consistency from these Tuscan underdogs this year. Coach Cagni will do well to repeat the achievements of 2006/07 with his 4-2-3-1 system.

Empoli - Bassi, Raggi Adani Marzoratti Tosto, Marianini MARCHISIO, Buscè GIACOMAZZI Vannucchi, Saudati

The big winners in the summer transfer market were Sampdoria (Cassano, Montella, Caracciolo, Bellucci), Livorno (Tavano, Tristan, Giannichedda, Dhorasoo) and Torino (Corini, Grella, Ventola, Di Michele, Natali, Sereni) while Siena (De Ceglie, Loria, Grimi, Bucchi, Jarolim) is also able to claim depth within its squad. Samp, Livorno and Torino should all challenge for Europe while Siena should just avoid the drop.

Sampdoria - Castellazzi, LUCCHINI Sala Accardi, Maggio Palombo Volpi Ziegler, CASSANO BELLUCCI, MONTELLA

Livorno - Amelia, Grandoni Knezevic Galante Pasquale, A. Filippini PULZETTI GIANNICHEDDA E. FILIPPINI, TRISTAN TAVANO

Torino - SERENI, Comotto NATALI Di Loreto LANNA, Rosina CORINI GRELLA Lazetic, VENTOLA BJELANOVIC

Siena - Manninger, Bertotto Portanova LORIA GRIMI, Vergassola Codrea DE CEGLIE, Frick Chiesa Maccarone

Juventus has been the main mover in the "calcio mercato" (transfer market) and has bolstered its defence with Jorge Andrade (from Deportivo), Grygera (from Ajax) and Criscito (from Genoa). Balzaretti, Kovac, Tudor, Paro, De Ceglie, Marchisio, Kapo and Volpato have all been cleared out for the arrivals of Almiron (from Empoli), Nocerino (from Piacenza), Salihamadzic (from Bayern), Tiago (from Lyon) while World Cup champion Vincenzo Iaquinta leaves Udinese to join Del Piero, Nedved and Trezuguet in attack. Expect a top ten finish from Ranieri's men.

Juventus - Buffon, GRYGERA ANDRADE CRISCITO Chiellini, Camoranesi ALMIRON NOCERINO Nedved, Del Piero Trezeguet

Napoli and Genoa are the other "rising giants" which return to the strongest league in the world. Napoli has signed current Argentine attacker Ezquiel Lavezzi from San Lorenzo, Venezuelan midfielder Gargano from Danubio in Uruguay and Slovakian midfielder Marek Hamsik from Brescia while Matteo Contini leaves Parma to join Paolo Cannavaro in defence.

Striker Marcelo Zalayeta and midfielder Manuele Blasi arrive fresh from Juventus and sign four and five year deals respectively. Other players that are rumoured to make their way to the San Paolo are Alvaro Recoba (Inter), Bernardo Corradi (Manchester City) and Juan Roman Riquelme (Villareal).

Napoli - Iezzo, P. Cannavaro Domizzi CONTINI, BLASI HAMSIK GARGANO Bogliacino Rullo, LAVEZZI ZALAYETA

Genoa signed attackers Borriello from Milan and Papa Waigo from Cesena to help out Marco Di Vaio up front. Alessandro Lucarelli (Reggina), Bovo (Palermo) and Paro (Juventus) are other new signings to help against relegation and Genoa should just manage to avoid the drop.

Genoa - Rubinho, BOVO A.LUCARELLI SANTOS, Rossi Milanetto PARO Fabiano, PAPA WAIGO - BORRIELLO - Di Vaio

All the talk of the European summer surrounded current Azzurri sensation Fabio Quagliarella. Udinese was the eventual destination, with Milan and Manchester United both having a crack, after the Friuli club won a blind auction against Sampdoria for the attacking genius' services. Expect big things from Quagliarella, who will partner Di Natale and Floro Flores up front. Udinese should push for Europe.

Udinese - HANDANOVIC, MESTO Coda Zapata Felipe, Pinzi Obodo D'Agostino, QUAGLIARELLA - FLORO FLORES - Di Natale

Of the other clubs Atalanta and Reggina should carry their good form of last season into 2007/08 and avoid relegation. Catania has attempted to strengthen with the arrivals of defender Terlizzi (from Sampdoria), 'keeper Bizarri (from Tarragona in Spain), midfielders Giacomo Tedesco (from Reggina) and Llama (from Arsenal in Argentina) and attacker Jorge Martinez (from Nacional in Uruguay).

Atalanta - COPPOLA, Rivalta Talamonti Carrozzieri Bellini, Ferreira Pinto DE ASCENTIS Tissone LANGELLA, Doni, Zampagna

Reggina - Campagnolo, Lanzaro VALDEZ Aronica Modesto, Vigiani CASCIONE Tognozzi, COZZA, Amoruso JOELSON

The fight is definitely on against relegation for the east-coast Sicilians along with Parma (who have only signed Morrone from Livorno, Damiano Zenoni from Udinese and Reginaldo from Fiorentina) who has an ageing defence and has lost saviour Giuseppe Rossi to Villareal, and Cagliari - who's lost its big three (Suazo,Esposito and Langella).

Catania - BIZZARRI, Silvestri TERLIZZI Stovini Vargas, Baiocco G. TEDESCO, Mascara Edusei Caserta, Spinesi

Parma - Bucci, ZENONI FALCONE Couto Castellini, Parravicini Cigarini MORRONE, Gasbarroni Budan REGINALDO

Cagliari - Fortin, Ferri Lopez Bianco Del Grosso, FOGGIA PAROLA Conti FINI, ACQUAFRESCA MATRI

No game in Serie A will be easy. The newly promoted teams will cause trouble even for the likes of Milan, Inter and Roma. Every competition point is crucial in the world's best and most prestigious football league. Serie A is even stronger than before with every team featuring champion players. We have a lot of late nights ahead of us in Australia. Buon Campionato a tutti.

The world of predictions can be nasty but here is David's prediction for the 2007/08 Serie A season.

Champion - AC Milan

2 Roma

3 Inter Milan

4 Fiorentina

5 Sampdoria

6 Livorno

7 Lazio

8 Juventus

9 Udinese

10 Palermo

11 Empoli

12 Torino

13 Napoli

14 Reggina

15 Genoa

16 Atalanta

17 Siena

18 Parma

19 Catania

20 Cagliari

Serie A Preview by AusItalia.com's David Ferrini