Atalanta will begin the new season next week with minus six points for their part in the latest match-fixing scandal, Juventus are still bickering over the 2006 title and there is a risk that a players' strike will delay the league's start.
Decrepit stadiums, crowd violence and scandals have combined to drain Italian football's credibility over the last few seasons and Serie A has fallen way behind the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga in terms of prestige.
This season Italian teams will be playing for only two direct Champions League places instead of the previous three, having fallen below Germany to fourth place in the UEFA co-efficient which decides the allocation of berths.
Juventus will open their new stadium in September and, in many ways, it is ground-breaking - not least because they own it, the only Serie A side to enjoy that privilege.
While their rivals, including title holders AC Milan, continue renting out municipal stadiums, Juventus will be able to use their ground for other events to generate income.
It also gives them an advantage under UEFA's new Financial Fair Play policy, which bans clubs from spending more than their generated revenue but exempts money invested in stadiums from the calculation.
The stadium has been built on the site of the old Stadio delle Alpi. Its capacity of 41,000 is around half that of its predecessor and with no running track to distance the fans from the pitch, the club hopes it will provide an inspirational atmosphere.
"The new stadium will allow us to return to the highest level, not only in Italy but in Europe as well," said former CEO Jean-Claude Blanc, who remains on the board of directors.
"The key word is planning. We bought the old Delle Alpi 10 years ago now and we focused on saving the club after Calciopoli [match-fixing scandal]. Despite Italy not getting to host Euro 2012, we did not give up on the project.
"Inter and Milan are lucky enough to have a great stadium with a huge capacity but it is not a decisive factor in their turnover. Our stadium is ready and will help us generate a lot of revenue even if it will take time."
Juventus have never fully recovered from being stripped of the 2005 and 2006 titles in the Calciopoli scandal, and they have spent heavily in the transfer market.
They splashed out 37 million euros to sign previously loaned players Alessandro Matri, Fabio Quagliarella, Simone Pepe and Marco Motta, then strengthened the midfield with the signing of Chile's versatile Arturo Vidal.
They added Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic from Roma for 15 million and replaced coach Luigi Delneri with former midfielder Antonio Conte in their bid to improve on last season's seventh place.
Roma have been rebuilding with new coach Luis Enrique hoping to use his Barcelona playing experience to mould them into a team with a similar style to the Catalans.
"When I spoke to the directors during contract negotiations, they told me the idea was to have an attractive side," he told reporters. "We'll see after a few months if we've achieved this but I don't know another way of playing."
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