There were minor mutterings over the close season of plusvalenze (inflating player values) to comply with Italy's strict rules on the financial viability of clubs but they have, as yet, proved to be spurious. Fortunately regulations in UK are less onerous or the season would never get underway!
After a summer free of international competition all players (especially the big stars) are rested and at 1700 CET on Saturday 25 August Lazio will face Torino at Rome's Stadio Olimpico in a tasty opening fixture.
Last season the honours were evenly distributed with Inter taking the Scudetto by some distance followed by Roma, Lazio and Milan. Roma took the infinitely less prestigious (unless you win it) Coppa Italia while Milan had to make do with the Champions League trophy.
So who will prevail this time round?
Promotion sees Juventus, Genoa and Napoli back in Serie A ( Juventus should never have been gone but that is another story) and with them come the derbies in Turin and Genoa but that I fear will be their most meaningful contribution to the season ahead.
Juventus have not fared well in pre-season activities nor have they splashed enough in the transfer market to be genuine contenders. Manager Didier Deschamps departed after seeing them safely to promotion but the club failed to achieve their stated aim of recruiting world cup winner Marcello Lippi as a replacement, hiring instead the hapless Caludio Ranieri who will be fortunate to last the season.
The ageing Pavel Nedved and Alessandro Del Piero are still around and will be joined by world cup winner Vicenzo Iaquinta but that will not suffice. The Old Lady will return to former glories but not quite yet - the best Juventus can hope for is fifth or sixth place and a UEFA Cup slot.
Remaining in Serie A after promotion is a difficult task and the other promoted clubs, Genoa and Napoli, will do well to avoid an immediate return to Serie B. Both have shuffled the pack and recruited some new blood but Genoa's recruits - Paro from Juventus, Bovo from Palermo and Borriello from Milan - are not names that propel teams to great heights.
Likewise Napoli, who have recruited Hamsik from Brescia, Gargano from Danubio and Lavezzi from San Lorenzo, will be low mid-table at best.
Lazio who took third place in Serie A and thus a Champions League qualifying slot last season may well repeat that performance. Goalkeeper Peruzzi has hung up his boots and Jimenez has departed to Inter but they have adequate replacements in the form of Ballotta and Del Nero. Expect Lazio to secure a Champions League slot again but this time from from fourth place.
Last season Fiorentina did well from a fifteen point handicap and eventually secured sixth place and a repeat of that is just about feasible. Luca Toni has gone and Cristian Vieri will not prove an adequate replacement for the prolific world cup star - he may not even finish the season with the Viola as the USA beckons for the once great striker. But Mutu is still there, Vanden Borre from Anderlecht will prove to be a valuable defensive acquisition and like all Serie A sides they concede few goals. Expect them to compete with Atalanta and others for a UEFA Cup slot.
Sampdoria may well be one of the others. They have recruited the unpredictable Antonio Cassano from Real Madrid and although he may be troublesome he will strengthen their squad. Cassano will join Volpi and Sala who with new signings Carracciolo from Palermo and Montella Fulham shouls compensate to a degree for the loss of Quagliarella to Udinese. Sampdoria are potential candidates for a UEFA slot.
Palermo did well last season but foundered late in the campaign and will struggle to repeat the performance. Carracciolo, Bovo and DeMichele have gone and replacements Rinaudo, Jankovic and ex-Juventus forward Miccoli are unlikely to prove adequate for the campaign ahead. Manager Colantuono will do well to achieve UEFA Cup status.
One of the others likely to contest a UEFA slot are last season's upstarts Empoli. Surprisingly they secured seventh place last time round and with the notable exception of Almiron who departed for Juventus have kept their squad relatively intact. To that squad they have added interesting acquisitions Marchisio, and Giovinco from Juventus and manager Cagni may just propel them to fifth or sixth place.
The top four slots will eventually be contested by (in alphabetical order) Inter, Lazio, Milan and Roma.
Lazio, as already suggested, will secure fourth place.
Roma with last season's top scorer and all round world class talent Francesco Totti who has quit international football will be formidable opponents in the season ahead. They have lost Christian Chivu to Inter but have recruited Juan and Kuffour who will join Mexes, Panucci, Taddei, Mancini, DeRossi and Perrotta in a formidable squad. Brilliantly managed by Spaletti Roma look good for third place.
Current Champions League holders Milan have surprised many by restricting their serious transfer activities to the pursuit and purchase of the seventeen year old Brazilian super prospect Alexandre Pato but he is unlikely to impact on Milan this season - he can play in friendly games now but will not be available for Serie A business till January 2008.
His arrival was however a great piece of business by the success machine that is Adriano Galliani, Carlo Ancelotti headed up by Silvio Berlusconi.
The Champions League winning squad is therefore intact although one year older - and they were not young last time out!
Like Totti Alessandro Nesta has quit international football and Milan will not suffer this time round by a series of debilitating early season injuries.
Nesta did not play until March last season, Kaladze till December, Ambrosini till November, Maldini till March, Serginho till April and Clarence Seedorf missed several early season games. All of this left Gattuso, Pirlo and other world cup winners with a heavy early season workload.
Neither was the situation helped by Milan having to play a qualifying Champions League tie only three weeks or so after the end of the world cup.
This year they are rested and with a formidable starting line up of Dida; Oddo, Nesta, Maldini, Jankulovski; Gattuso, Pirlo, Kaka, Seedorf; Inzaghi, Ronaldo will be difficult to overcome.
That team backed up by Cafu, Bonera, Serginho, Gilardino, Ambrosini, Brocchi, Simic and Gourcouff are potential Serie A and Champions League winners.
The major obstacle in the way of a Milan success will be Roberto Mancini's star studded Inter. Funded by Massimo Moratti they have strengthened last year's Scudetto winning squad with the addition of Chivu from Roma, Suavo from Cagliari and Jimenez from Lazio.
They have not offloaded any of last year's squad and we can anticipate a starting line up of Cesar; Maicon, Cordoba, Materazzi, Chivu; Vieira, Cambiasso, Zanetti, Stankovic; Crespo, Ibrahimovic. Backed up by Burdisso, Coco, Samuel, Dacourt, Solari, Cruz and Adriano they will start the season as favourites to retain the Scudetto.
Inter will prevail but only after a close run contest with Milan - I do hope I am wrong.
There we have it - Inter to win the Scudetto followed very closely by Milan with Roma and Lazio making up the top four.
Relegation is a sad topic and amongst those battling against it will be Siena, Cagliari, Torino, Reggina and the newly promoted Genoa and Napoli.
Hard to predict the eventual losers but if pushed one would have to concede Siena, Cagliari and Genoa are likely to be the unfortunate three.
Serie A will be back to its glorious best - a feast of individual player skills, wonderful close passing, possession football and a chess like battle of wits between twenty of the best managers in the world.
It is a league of well drilled defenders and quality strikers which has regularly provided European and world champions and where a visit by the top teams to the stadiums of those in the lower echelons is seldom a foregone conclusion.
Every Serie A game is live on TV in Italy and in UK the best games can be viewed on satellite and cable via Setanta while Five has a terrestrial offering.
Better still make a trip to the best arena on the planet in which to watch football. San Siro for a derby or for an attractive Champions League game in November is as close to perfection as is possible in football.
It is however viewing for the connoisseur and the purist, and is thus not recommended for those attracted by gung ho cavalry charges and the circus acts provided by other well intentioned but lesser leagues to which some are so inexplicably attracted.
CARINO