In Italy the show Scherzi a Parte is like Candid Camera (or Punk'd), and plays practical jokes on various Italian celebrities and films it so we can watch much to our amusement. Over the years there have been many played on Italian footballers and managers, and I have collected the best ones and put them here for your viewing pleasure.

AC Milan
In: Mathieu Flamini (free, Arsenal), Gianluca Zambrotta (€8.5 million, Barcelona), Marco Borriello (€10 + Davide Di Gennaro, Genoa), Christian Abbiati (loan return, Atletico Madrid), Ronaldinho (€25m, Barcelona), Andriy Shevchenko (loan, Chelsea), Philippe Senderos (loan, Arsenal)
Out: Alberto Gilardino (€13 million, Fiorentina), Yoann Gourcuff (loan, Bordeaux), Ricardo Oliveira (€10 mil, Real Zaragoza), Luca Antonelli (co-ownership, Parma), Davide Di Gennaro (part of Marco Borriello deal, Genoa), Cafu (released), Serginho (retired), Ibrahim Ba (retired), Valerio Flori (retired), Ignazio Abate (co-ownership, Torino), Dario Simic (undisclosed, Monaco), Alberto Paloschi (loan, Parma), Cristian Brocchi (undisclosed, Lazio), Massimo Oddo (loan, Bayern Munich)
Atalanta
In: Jaime Valdes (undisclosed, Lecce), Christian Vieri (free, Fiorentina), Luca Cigarini (co-ownership, Parma), Alessio Cerci (loan, Roma)
Out: Antonio Langella (undisclosed, Udinese), Fernando Tissone (undisclosed, Udinese), Andrea Lazzari (co-ownership, Cagliari), Zlatan Muslimovic (undisclosed, PAOK), George Forsyth (loan, Alianza Lima)
Bologna
In: Sergio Volpi (free, Sampdoria), Marco Bernacci (undisclosed, Ascoli), Christian Zenoni (undisclosed, Sampdoria), Diego Manuel Rodriguez (loan, Penarol), Coelho (loan, Corinthians), Gabi Mudingayi (€6m, Lazio), Davide Marchini (loan, Triestina)
Out: Riccardo Bonetto (loan, Livorno)
Cagliari
In: Federico Marchetti (undisclosed, Albinoleffe), Andrea Lazzari (co-ownership, Atalanta), Carlos Matheu (undisclosed, Independiente)
Out: Cristian Del Grosso (undisclosed, Siena)
Catania
In: Tomas Kosicky (undisclosed, Inter Bratislava), Julian Di Cosmo (undisclosed, Igea Virtus), Ezequiel Alejo Carboni (undisclosed, Red Bull Salzburg), Pablo Ledesma (undisclosed, Boca Juniors), Nicolae Dica (€2m, Steaua), Giuseppe Colucci (undisclosed, Verona)
Out: Juan Manuel Vargas (undisclosed, Fiorentina), Adriano Mezavilla (loan, Perugia), Mauro Minelli (loan, Triestina), Gianluca Pegolo (loan, Parma)
Chievo
In: Stefano Sorrentino (free, AEK Athens), Mauro Esposito (loan, Roma), Kerlon (undisclosed, Cruzeiro)
Out: Matteo Alberti (undisclosed, QPR), Giovanni Marchese (loan, Salernitana), Victor Obinna (undisclosed, Inter), Pablo Granoche (loan, Triestina), Mirco Gasparetto (loan, Pisa)
Fiorentina
In: Alberto Gilardino (€13 million, AC Milan), Stevan Jovetic (€8 million, Partizan Belgrade), Felipe Melo (€13m, Almeria), Gianluca Comotto (undisclosed, Torino), Juan Manuel Vargas (undisclosed, Catania), Jefferson (free, Parana), Luciano Zauri (loan, Lazio), Sergio Almiron (loan, Juventus)
Out: Tomas Ujfalusi (free, Atletico Madrid), Fabio Liverani (undisclosed, Palermo), Christian Vieri (released), Daniele Cacia (undisclosed, Piacenza)
Genoa
In: Abdelkader Ghezzal (undisclosed, Crotone), Davide Di Gennaro (part of Marco Borriello deal, AC Milan), Francesco Modesto (Reggina), Andrea Gasbarroni (undisclosed, Parma), Salvatore Bocchetti (co-ownership, Frosinone), Giuseppe Biava (undisclosed, Palermo), Steve Pinau (undisclosed, Monaco), Sokratis Papastathopoloulos (€4m, AEK Athens), Diego Milito (undisclosed, Real Zaragoza), Davide Brivio (loan, Vicenza)
Out: Marco Borriello (€10 million + Davide Di Gennaro, AC Milan), Abdoulay Konko (undisclosed, Sevilla), Leon (undisclosed, Parma), Alessandro Lucarelli (undisclosed, Parma), Fabiano (loan, Reggina), Silvano Garibaldi (loan, Pisa), Danilo (undisclosed, Celta Vigo), Steve Pinau (loan, Hibs)
Inter
In: Stefano Giacomelli (loan, Foligno), Luis Antonio Jimenez (permanent deal, Ternana), Mancini (€13m, Roma), Sulley Muntari (€16m, Portsmouth), Victor Obinna (undisclosed, Chievo), Ricardo Quaresma (€18.

New worldwide advertising campaign featuring five new images of David Beckham photographed by Mert and Marcus on Malibu beach
Press release
Milan, June XX, 2008– Giorgio Armani is pleased to announce that his friend and testimonial David Beckham will unveil a giant mural featuring an image from the new Emporio Armani Underwear advertising campaign for Autumn/Winter 2008-09 on June 18th, 2008, 5pm PST at Macy's in San Francisco.

Our beloved Serie A kicks off this weekend and it's preview time. After thinking that last season was a tough season to predict, this season it becomes even tougher. There are so many quality sides in the top flight this season that it is really hard to predict who will finish where this season.

Those of you who have been reading the Italy Offside blog longer than 8 months now, know that February 13, 2008, was a sad date for Serie A fans worldwide. On that day, one of the greatest and most entertaining bloggers I've ever had the pleasure to read stepped down from her post, leaving hundreds [.

Woe betide soccer clubs who ignore the views of their supporters.

Italian top-flight side Atalanta decided to re-sign former striker Christian Vieri during the close season and unwittingly unleashed a wave of protests from angry fans.

What a shame. They played better, they had more scoring chances, and they deserved a win, yet Fiorentina's 2008 UEFA Cup adventure ends in the Semi-Finals. The cruel fate of penalty kicks, which has plagued Italians so many times in the past (but which after the 2006 World Cup seemed to be a forgiven affair), [.

The 2008-2009 season starts end of month but several big names will be missing come opening day.  AC Milan especially are showing their weakened status with several poor performances in pre-season, including a 0 - 5 loss to London's Chelsea last week in Russia.  Who do you think will be the most obvious missing link come match day [.