Is Italian football no longer 'a beautiful game'?

An interesting and in depth account of what has happened to Italian football based on an interview with John Foot, author of the authoritative Calcio: A History of Italian Football: Serie A

The article starts by stating: 'In the 1980s and 1990s, Italy’s Serie A was the world’s leading football league. But as financial interests asset-strip once-great clubs and the terraces become home to harshening racist abuse, Italian football no longer looks like such a “beautiful game.”'

Of course, others might argue that recent inward investment in the Italian offers more promise for the future.