By Stefano Bozzi BBC Sport

It's been a bit like the slow dawn of realising there's no Father Christmas.

Serie A was always the utopia, the pinnacle of European football where only the greats were truly welcome.

But the days of Charles, Maradona, Platini, Zico, Batistuta, Baggio, Zidane and perhaps even Ronaldo are over.

The bubble has been suffering a slow puncture, but on Tuesday it spectacularly burst. It's a bitter end to la dolce vita.

Zidane has moved to Spain

The last three seasons in Italy have been dogged by doping, match-fixing, hooliganism, racism and false passports.

And this summer, just as the demise of both ITV Digital and Kirch TV so hurt the game in England and Germany, Serie A fell foul of the interdependent and vastly inflated relationship between player salaries and television income.

Last year, the top 18 Italian clubs declared an operating loss of �500m.

In the league where the lira lured the elite, both football clubs and TV companies are suddenly very short of euros.

The fact that state-owned television network RAI have only offered half the fee they paid for terrestrial highlights a year ago is a sign that television has lost confidence in football.

After 10 years of coverage, Britain's Channel Four baulked and walked away when it heard the requested fee for contract renewal.

Also on Tuesday, 1999-2000 scudetto champions Lazio - who only 12 months ago sold Juan Sebastian Veron to Manchester United for �28m - suffered the ignimony of having three transfers annulled.

Lazio could offer no guarantee that they could afford even 30% of the fees for Christian Manfredini and Eriberto from Chievo and Verona's Massimo Oddo.

The hugely salaried Alessandro Nesta, Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez are all available for transfer, but no-one is willing to meet Lazio's unrealistic asking prices.

Del Piero: Pin-up of Italian football

Even the Northern giants of Juve, Milan and Inter are enduring tough times.

But nothing compared to the debt-ridden Lazio and Roma, let alone the 11 clubs in the top two divisions who have been deemed unworthy of a decent pay-TV deal.

The big three have tightened their belts to an extent, but Inter still managed to shell out for Fabio Cannavaro, while Milan have even found space on their wage bill for Rivaldo.

Defending champions Juve seem happy simply to stick with the squad they've got.

But this trio have relatively no fear from declining television revenue.

They are supported up and down the peninsula and enjoy a worldwide fanbase - thus the pay-TV paymasters continue to stump up.

But the rest command far less TV demand.

FA warning

A club even as decorated as Fiorentina has gone to the wall after gross over-spending was coupled with recent under-achievement.

They have now re-formed and will begin this campaign in Serie C2 - the semi-pro fourth division.

Just as Serie A was the promised land which blazed a trail in glamour and glory, it has also now led the way in self-destruction.

The English Premiership now vies with La Liga in Spain for the mantle of the world's premier league.

But over-reliance on TV money - at a time when demand has plateaued - could prove critical. Here's hoping the FA heeds the warning.