Managerial longevity is a loose concept in Italian football, where bosses come and go, return and depart again, often within the same season.

Six of the teams that finished in the top eight in Serie A this term will have new managers when the 2025-26 campaign begins in just over two months. A repeat of last summer, when 14 of 20 clubs appointed new coaches, looks distinctly possible.

And while the Serie A managerial merry-go-round continued to spin, its Serie B counterpart has creaked and shuddered into action.

Fresh from steering Pisa back to Serie A for the first time in 34 years, Filippo Inzaghi will not be taking charge of the team in the top flight. He is widely tipped to replace Alessio Dionisi at Palermo.

Pisa’s promotion challenge was a genuine surprise, coming as it did after they finished 13th last term with a negative goal difference, just five points clear of the relegation zone.

Even when the Tuscans led the table for three months until the end of November, common wisdom suggested they would run out of steam. But, they did not. 

Their colours firmly tied to the 3-4-2-1 mast, Pisa were the only team capable of keeping pace with Sassuolo, finishing six points behind the Serie B champions with the second-most prolific attack and the third best defensive record. 

For staying the course, enormous credit must go to Inzaghi, whose managerial career has ebbed and flowed.

Promotions with Venezia and Benevento were offset by disappointing spells at Milan, Bologna and Salernitana, but success with Pisa is vindication for SuperPippo.

“I think a coach must evolve and grow over time to succeed,” Inzaghi told Sky Italia in January. That he has certainly done, but Palermo would offer a completely different challenge.

The Rosanero were condemned to a ninth consecutive season in Serie B after losing to Juve Stabia in the first round of the play-offs and parted ways with Dionisi soon afterward.

Dionisi never quite managed to get the best out of a talented squad and lived on borrowed time for the majority of the campaign.

In Joel Pohjanpalo, Matteo Brunori and Jeremy Le Douaron, Palermo have one of the best attacking trios in the division and promotion should be on the cards if a new manager can get them firing.

Juve Stabia, Palermo’s conquerors in the play-offs, will also start next season with a new man in the dug-out after Guido Pagliuca called time on his spell in Campania after two seasons.

The Stabians were one of Serie B’s surprise packages and came within a whisker of two consecutive promotions, eventually losing to Cremonese in the play-off semi-finals.

Pagliuca is set to take over Empoli, whose sojourn in Serie A ended after three seasons and his first task will be to strengthen a defence that conceded 59 goals last term, the third-most in Serie A.

Like the Tuscans, Monza and Venezia bid farewell to the top flight last month and, like the Tuscans, are set for managerial changes.

Alessandro Nesta has left Monza for a second time after being sacked midway through last season and then rehired, but he will not be taking over from Moreno Longo at Bari.

Nesta met with Bari president Luigi De Laurentiis but La Gazzetta dello Sport reported the 2006 World Cup winner has decided against a move to the San Nicola.

Nesta will be replaced in Lombardy by Paolo Bianco, who signed a two-year deal less than a month after leading Frosinone to safety – albeit with the help of Brescia’s financial downfall.

I Canarini averaged 1.67 points per game since Bianco was appointed in mid-February and finished 16th to book a place in the relegation play-off against Salernitana.

That was until Brescia, who had finished 15th, were deducted eight points for alleged financial irregularities and went down instead, leaving Salernitana to face Sampdoria in the play-off and Frosinone in Serie B for another season.

Having successfully avoided the drop, the task for Bianco, who served as assistant manager to both Roberto De Zerbi and Massimiliano Allegri, is now to restore Monza to Serie A at the first time of asking.

Venezia, the third team to be relegated to Serie B, could also have a new manager with Eusebio Di Francesco currently top of Lecce’s list to replace Marco Giampaolo.

Were Di Francesco, who won promotion with Sassuolo in 2013, to leave the Lagoon, Fabio Pecchia and Giovanni Stroppa are the favourites to replace him.

Stroppa took Cremonese back to Serie A at the second time of asking earlier this month, while Pecchia won Serie B with Parma 12 months ago but was fired in February.

Elsewhere, Fabio Caserta has left Catanzaro by mutual consent after they were knocked out by Spezia in the play-off semis, falling at the same hurdle for the second consecutive season.

With so many managers on the move, Luca D’Angelo looks instead to be staying put.

The 54-year-old is set to remain at Spezia for at least another season and will aim to bring them back to Serie A after losing to Cremonese in the play-off final at the start of June.

D’Angelo’s decision to stay in La Spezia meant Modena had to turn to Andrea Sottil to fill the gap left by Paolo Mandelli.

Former Udinese manager Sottil is set to sign a two-year deal with the Gialloblu, just six months after being sacked by Sampdoria.

Sottil replaced Andrea Pirlo in August and oversaw a win against Genoa in the Derby della Lanterna in the Coppa Italia, the high watermark in an otherwise historically disastrous season.

But he was jettisoned after just four wins in 14 games and Modena will be hoping for a much better return on their investment.