Serie A's new boys

Atalanta
Bergamo’s finest have made some 46 appearances in the top flight and their best ever finish came in 1948 when they took fifth spot. Their trophy cabinet also contains the 1963 Coppa Italia when they beat Torino 3-1 in the Final. These were the days of Angelo Domenghini who went on to greater fame with Inter and Italy.

Despite their regular appearances in Serie A, the team has rarely supplied players to the national team and only the likes of their great goalscorer Adriano Bassetto and Italian-Argentine Humberto Maschio have featured for the Azzurri. Their ‘golden age’ was probably at the end of the 1980s and early ‘90s when they were regulars in the top half of Serie A and the likes of Claudio Caniggia and Evair sent them into the UEFA Cup.

More recent times have seen them confirm their reputation as an ‘elevator’ club between the First and Second Divisions. Having strolled to the Serie B title last term, the Nerazzurri now need to prove that they belong in Serie A.

Catania
The club formed in 1946 but came to prominence in the 1950s when the Rossoazzurri secured promotion to Serie A in 1953-54. The Sicilians’ golden years came during the 1960s when they spent six seasons in the top flight, even finishing eighth twice.

Since relegation in 1966, the Elefanti have made two short-lived returns to the big-time – the 1970-71 season and the 1983-84 campaign. The latter proved a spectacular false dawn as the minnows could only register 12 points, despite the presence of Claudio Ranieri in their defence.

In 1993, Catania suffered financial irregularities but were readmitted to the Eccellenza [Italy’s sixth Division] and quickly pulled themselves back into Serie B by 2001. Antonino Pulvirenti – founder and President of Italian low-cost airline Windjet – took over the club in 2004 and his investment allowed the outfit to finish as 2005-06 Serie B runners-up.


Torino
Despite a recent stay in Serie B, extended by financial problems that denied them promotion last summer, the Granata are amongst Italy’s most celebrated clubs.

Founded in 1906 it took them a little over a couple of decades to grab the first of no fewer than seven League crowns. The next one came in 1943 and it heralded the opening of an era of unprecedented success for the Turin side. They won five Scudetti on the trot to match the performance of city rivals Juventus back in the 1930s.

The ‘Grande Torino’ side ran riot, rarely scoring less than 100 goals a season and containing most of the great players of the era including Valentino Mazzola, Ezio Loik, Romeo Menti and Mario Rigamonti. But on May 4, 1949, disaster struck as the team was on its way back from a friendly in Lisbon. The plane they were flying in struck the hills above Turin at Superga and everyone on board was killed. There were still four games left to play in the season but, after a 0-0 draw with closest rivals Inter, the Italian Federation awarded them their fifth Scudetto in a row and let them conclude the season with their youth team.

It took over a quarter century for the championship to return to Torino and it was an emotionally charged moment when they secured that title once more in 1976. Since then the club has known a dip in fortunes and bobbed up and down between Serie A and B although they did memorably reach the UEFA Cup Final in 1992 only to lose out to Ajax.

This summer’s promotion came in dramatic fashion with a thrilling 5-5 aggregate score-line in the play-off Final giving them victory over Mantova as a result of a higher League finish. Toro will now look to settle once more amongst the elite.

Source: C4 Football Italia