After weeks of anticipation, Serie A's clubs finally know who they will be facing on the opening day – the weekend of August 31.The pick of the fixtures sees a rejuvenated Juventus travel to the Stadio Artemio Franchi for a grudge match with Fiorentina.
Jose Mourinho's competative debut on the Inter bench is a testing trip to Marassi to play Sampdoria.
Ronaldinho's first Serie A game will be at San Siro against newly promoted Bologna, while Roma host Napoli in a tense encounter at the Stadio Olimpico.
Serie B play-off winners Lecce visit Torino and Cadetti champions Chievo ease their way in by welcoming Reggina to the Stadio Bentegodi.
The first major derby is Milan-Inter in Week 5, while Juventus and Torino clash in Week 8 and Roma and Lazio cross swords in Week 12.
Fiorentina-Inter is Week 9 and Juventus-Roma is Week 10 – the same day as Milan host Napoli.
Week 13 sees the Derby d'Italia as Inter host Juventus, while Milan travel to Juve in Week 16 and the rematch will be a thrilling end of season encounter.
The close of the campaign is packed with mouth-watering ties, most notably including Milan-Roma in the penultimate week.
The last day sees Juventus play Lazio, Fiorentina host Milan, Roma take on Torino and Inter play home to Atalanta.
The season starts on Saturday August 30 and concludes on May 31, 2009.
Meanwhile, the Presidents of Serie B decided to boycott the ceremony at the CONI headquarters as a protest after the top-flight clubs refused to guarantee the amount of money they would give their Second Division colleagues when TV rights were agreed.
Last year a total of £50m was promised, but there have been no assurances so far this time around.
"There was no agreement and so we won't be present for the presentation of the new fixtures," Frosinone chief Maurizio Stirpe explained.
"We have decided to leave the party to Serie A and the next step for the second tier clubs will be not to play."
Week 1 Fixtures:
Atalanta v Siena
Cagliari v Lazio
Catania v Genoa
Chievo v Reggina
Fiorentina v Juventus
Milan v Bologna
Roma v Napoli
Sampdoria v Inter
Torino v Lecce
Udinese v Palermo
[Serie A 2008-09 Fixtures]
Source: C4 Football Italia
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