THIS has been a long, hot and controversial Italian footballing summer and it is with no small relief that fans this afternoon welcome the chance to turn their backs on disappointment and herald the kick off of the new league season.

Inevitably, Italy's first round elimination from the European Championships with a side considered by many one of the best was a bitter pill. First round elimination by Mexico and Ghana at the Atlanta Olympics with a side considered a tournament favourite was hardly much sweeter.

The "tifosi" had barely digested those disappointments when they awoke to find that three of their most talented footballing sons, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo (both Chelsea) and Fabrizio Ravanelli (Middlesborough) had been whisked from under their noses and sent, like the monk Augustine, to perfidious Albian, there to teach the gospel of "bel calcio" (beautiful soccer).

For a soccer community complacent in its belief that it represents the capital of world soccer, the sight of favourite sons packing their bags for England represented a profound shock.

Furthermore, consumer confidence was hardly much boosted by the unedifying spectacle of an Italian Football Federation so divided within itself that if failed to elect a new President last month, prompting the short term appointment of a Commissioner General, Raffaele Pagnozzi.

All of this might have been expected to lead to a lessening of fan interest. Not so. On the eve of this season's kick off, no less than eight of the 18 first division teams have sold more season tickets than last year, and that notwithstanding the fact that for the first time fans can buy live Pay TV coverage of their favourite team.

Furthermore, Italian clubs have spent heavily in these post Bosman times, buying more than 40 new foreign players to bring the resident foreign corps to over 80.

When it comes to analysing the new season, it is frankly a case of rounding up the usual suspects. Reigning champions AC Milan, reigning European champions Juventus, Cun holders Fiorentina and pretenders Internazionale and Parma form a quintet which seems certain to dominate the season, even if there are question marks about all of them. .

Champions Milan, having bought the Dutchmen Michael Reiziger and Egar Davids as well as Frenchman Christophe Dugarry, look stronger than ever. However, will new coach, Uruguyan Oscar Washington Tabarez, win the respect of senators and stars such as Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Montcnegrin Dejan "The Genius" Savicevic, Liberian Georges Weah, Croat Zvonimir Boban and Roberto "Little Buddha" Baggio?

Intriguingly, for Milan's opening game at home to Verona tomorrow, the new coach has opted to stick to the tried and true formation inherited from predecessor Fabio Capello, now with Spanish cracks Real Madrid.

Both Reiziger and Davids will probably start on the substitutes' bench, while Dugarry is still recovering from a knee problem.

Up the road from AC Milan, city rivals Internazionale have certainly rung the changes and the team they field for this evening's opening game away to Udinese is likely to field several new faces. Inter's experienced English coach, Roy Hodgson has to use French, German, Italian and his native tongue to talk to his multinational squad.

It will require all his undoubted skill to create a successful team out of a squad which contains two Frenchmen, Youri Djorkaeff and Jocyeln Angloma, one Chilean Ivan Zamorano, one Argentine Javier Zanetti, one Swiss Ciriaco Sforza, one Dutchman Aron Winter, one Englishman Paul Ince, not to mention Italians such as Nicola Berti, Giuseppe Bergomi and Gianluca Pagliuca.

One is also entitled to wonder how Juventus will fare in the absence of their 25 goal per season, twin strike force, Vialli and Ravanelli. The two men brought in to replace them, Croat Alen Boksic (ex Lazio) and Christian Vieri (ex Atalanta), between them managed only 11 goals last season, inevitably suggesting that Juventus will be somewhat lightweight in attack this season, even if they can still call on Alessandro Del Piero.

Furthermore, Juventus did one of their key players of these last two successful seasons, Portuguese midfielder Paulo Sousa, and replaced him with the talented Frenchman Zinedine Zidane.

However, the latter's indifferent performances for France in England this summer begs another question about the Juventus season. Juventus, by the way, kick off tomorrow away to newly promoted Reggiana.

This time last year, your correspondent hit the corner flag with the spectacularly wrong prediction that Parma might win the championship. No such rash utterance now. Only two questions will Parma's $15 million dollar buy, Enrico Chiesa, live up to his price tag and will new coach Carlo Ancelotti prove capable of handling life in the fast lane?

For the answers, come back next June when the season ends.