A dramatic Serie B season is finally in the books.

Sampdoria are safe after grabbing the lifeline thrown to them following Brescia’s demise, with Salernitana slipping through the relegation trapdoor and joining Cosenza and Cittadella.

At the other end of the table, Sassuolo stormed back to Serie A at the first time of asking, Pisa returned after 34 years away and Cremonese followed them up through the play-offs.

Here, the Destination Calcio writers run through their season awards.

Team of the season

Dan Cancian: Having swept everything in their path Sassuolo are the obvious choice, but I’m going to pick Pisa instead. The Tuscans are back in the big time after a season in which they were the only team capable of challenging the Neroverdi – that they did not last the distance says more about Sassuolo’s qualities then their own shortcomings.

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 run out of steam they did not, not spending a week outside the top three, save for their draw against Spezia on the opening day. Pisa did not lose two games in a row until March and when they did, those defeats came against Sassuolo and Spezia, their closest rivals.

When the wobble came, Pisa answered in emphatic fashion and rattled off five wins in the next six fixtures. Promoted with the second-best attack and the second-best defence in the league, the Nerazzurri will not forget this season in a hurry.

Emmet Gates: The obvious choice is Sassuolo, so I’m not going for them. And Dan has taken Pisa. So, to be different I’ll go for Juve Stabia.

Guido Pagliuca did a marvellous job, very nearly taking the side from Castellammare into Serie A at the first attempt. The fact they made it to the play-off semi-finals after 11 years in Serie C is nothing short of miraculous.

In Andrea Adorante they have one of the best strikers in the league and they were tough to beat all season. The Stadio Romeo Menti, while not the biggest of grounds in the country, was a constant din of noise.

With the club now in the hands of Irish-Italian company Brera Holdings, the future could be very bright indeed for Juve Stabia.

David Ferrini: I’ll go for what I consider to be the best team pound for pound – Catanzaro.

Under Fabio Caserta, they got results when it mattered, losing just seven times during the regular season: one fewer than automatically-promoted Pisa and only one more than runaway champions Sassuolo.

With signings such as Tommaso Cassandro, Giacomo Quagliata and Mirko Pigliacelli, it is clear that president Floriano Noto intends to cement his side in Serie B and challenge for a rags-to-riches promotion to the top tier if the opportunity presents. Incredibly, the Giallorossi barely spent a cent yet still managed to put together a deep squad list.

Catanzaro is laden with aspiring talents and lower-league statesmen who still have fire in the belly. Pietro Iemmello stole the limelight with his 17-goal haul, but credit must also go to Marco Pompetti – who featured in our compilation of best goals with two screamers – and rugged defender Federico Bonini for his eight goals and four assists in a breakout season to help the Aquile del Sud to sixth place.

Player of the season

David Ferrini: There are so many top strikers but I’m sticking my neck out for the unsung heroes who win the ball and create the goals.

Matteo Tramoni and Antonio Palumbo were magnificent for Pisa and Modena respectively, yet Jari Vandeputte was crucial to Cremonese’s push to win promotion.

The Belgian ranked top of the league for shot creating actions per 90, and finished the term with 13 assists, the most in the division alongside Domenico Berardi.

Vandeputte’s passing range and tactical awareness helped Cremonese mitigate the absence of Franco Vazquez when he was hit with a 10-match suspension during the business end of the season. The 29-year-old also contributed four goals.

Dan Cancian: Picking the best player in Serie B is a fool’s errand at the best of times and even more so this season.

Armand Lauriente, Iemmello and Adorante rattled in the goals while Tramoni claimed 13 which proved crucial to Pisa’s promotion tilt, and Salvatore Esposito and Michele Collocolo anchored the midfields of Spezia and Cremonese respectively.

Francesco Pio Esposito, however, gets the nod. The Inter Milan loanee’s 19 goals in 39 games – including two in four in the play-offs – were integral to Spezia’s promotion bid, with the Ligurians finishing third in the table before falling against Cremonese in the final.

Still a teenager, Esposito operates with a maturity and confidence beyond his years and there does not appear to be any real weakness to his game. At 6ft 3in, he is a threat with his feet and in the air and provides plenty of options for his team-mates.

It is no wonder former Italy manager Luciano Spalletti described him as “a natural footballer with an eye for goal and a promising future.”

Emmet Gates: It’s hard to look past Catanzaro cult hero Iemmello.

Club captain and talisman for the Calabrian side, he almost single-handedly kept his hometown club in the play-off positions all season. Seventeen goals, many of them brilliant, was an impressive return for a man now entering his mid-30s.

Caserta’s men were not blessed with quality, which makes Iemmello’s feat all the more remarkable.

Can he repeat it next season? The jury is out but Catanzaro fans will certainly hope so.

Manager of the season

Dan Cancian: Plenty in with a shout here but Filippo Inzaghi deserves this one. It seems strange now that doubts surrounded his appointment last summer when the former Juventus and AC Milan striker arrived just months after being sacked by Salernitana.

Inzaghi got the best out of his team straight away, with Pisa hitting the ground running and setting the pace until November, before ceding the initiative to Sassuolo.

From the beginning of the season, Pisa’s colours were firmly tied to the mast of counter-attacking football in Inzaghi’s 3-4-1-2 formation and the results were spectacular, with the Tuscans scoring 64 goals, the second-most in the division behind Sassuolo. Attacking impetus, however, did not come to the detriment of defensive solidity, with Pisa conceding the second-fewest goals in Serie B behind Spezia.

A livewire act on the touchline as much as he was on the pitch in his playing days, Inzaghi radiated zen-like calm off it throughout the season.

He batted down suggestions Pisa were running away with automatic promotion to keep his players grounded, just as he dismissed concerns over their mettle after a run of one win and three defeats in five games from early February.

Much as Napoli’s triumph was Antonio Conte’s, Inzaghi deserves huge credit for Pisa returning to Serie A. They will miss him next season.

Emmet Gates: Guido Pagliuca. Juve Stabia had been in the third tier of the Italian pyramid for more than a decade. They won promotion last season, spent just over €600,000 on players, and finished the season in fifth.

That is a remarkable achievement. Only in his second season on the bench, Pagliuca overperformed considering the finances at his disposal.

Against Palermo in the play-off preliminary stage, Juve Stabia showed that money can’t buy success. They outplayed, outfought and outthought the Sicilians, a side who spent much more this season.

Just as Pisa will miss Inzaghi, filling the void left by Pagliuca’s departure to Empoli will not be easy for the Stabians.

David Ferrini: Pippo Inzaghi. While Sassuolo’s Fabio Grosso was blessed with a star-studded squad by Serie B standards, Inzaghi walked into a project that had struggled for confidence the previous season.

He brought a sense of cohesion to the Nerazzurri and was able to exploit the strengths of those who suffered the disappointment of the 2022 Serie B promotion final and also newcomers Henrik Meister, Alexander Lind and Adrian Semper.

Pisa deserve their promotion, clearly the second-best team in the division, and the for and against columns prove that – 64 goals scored and 36 conceded.

Fortunately, we will see Inzaghi again next season as he aims to get Palermo promoted. He just might be Serie B’s Antonio Conte.

Game of the season

David Ferrini: We haven’t spoken enough about Cremonese, a side that went deep into the belly of the beast and emerged promoted.

The Stadio Alberto Picco hosted the second leg of the play-off final just a few days after Spezia secured a goalless draw in Cremona.

Despite the home advantage for the Ligurians, Cremonese went for the jugular, with Manuel De Luca outpacing and outmuscling Petko Hristov to toe poke in the first goal of the night from a tight angle.

Franco Vazquez then shepherded in Michele Collocolo’s header, the former awarded the goal for 2-0, and De Luca capitalised on panic in the box to tap home from close range.

At 3-0 in the 84th minute, all seemed done and dusted. But Francesco Pio Esposito received a pass from brother Salvatore, turned and fired his shot into the bottom right to make it interesting. Spezia-born Luca Vignali then cut the deficit again less than 60 seconds later when he drove beautifully into the bottom left from the edge of the area.

Suddenly, the Picco was filled with smoke from flares as Spezia hunted down the equaliser – remembering that as the higher-tanked team they only needed an aggregate draw to win the tie and promotion.

But determination and football IQ kicked in as Giovanni Stroppa’s men combatted Spezia’s momentum with fouls, stoppages and pure chaos over the next 15 minutes.

It paid off for Cremonese’s 3,000-strong contingent, who sung their side back to Serie A with a spectacular 3-2 result, a breathtaking game on the biggest Serie B stage there is.

Dan Cancian: In a season that delivered thrillers aplenty, this was a difficult category. Palermo and Sassuolo exchanging eight goals in an absolute thriller? Cremonese and Spezia producing one of the best 90 minutes the play-offs have ever seen? Valid suggestions.

But I’m going with Pisa beating Sassuolo 3-1 on Boxing Day. The Tuscans spent so long in the top two of Serie B, it is easy to forget that they went into this game outside the automatic promotion places after losing away to Modena five days earlier.

Sassuolo, meanwhile, had won 10 and drawn two of their previous 12 fixtures and were on a seven-game winning run as they arrived at the Garibaldi. It mattered not a jot as goals from Tramoni and Idrissa Toure put the hosts in control midway through the first half, before Tramoni swept home in the second half to put Pisa 3-0 up.

Nicholas Pierini pulled one back for the league leaders, but Sassuolo never looked like rescuing a point. Pisa’s mettle had been questioned and this was the most emphatic of ripostes.

Emmet Gates: Just so I can talk about Iemmello some more, my game of the season is Catanzaro’s 3-3 draw with Sampdoria in late November.

Back then, no one knew what would await Samp. Andrea Pirlo had been sacked at the end of August, but no could foresee they would be looking into the abyss post-Christmas.

Iemmello was in fine form at the Marassi, scoring a hat-trick. His first was a predatory finish, lashing the ball home after a cross from the right-hand side wasn’t dealt with.

His second was a sumptuous Panenka penalty that Francesco Totti would be proud to call his own, and his third a glancing header following a set-piece. That put his side 3-2 ahead with 20 minutes left and they looked good for the points.

But up stepped Simone Leonardi, who smashed in the equaliser in the final minute to secure a draw.

In what was a terrible season for the 1991 Scudetto winners, this game was one of the bright spots.