The IFF (Italian Football Federation) has released the fixtures for the upcoming 2015/16 season.

Opening round throws up interesting match-up's

Juventus will begin their title defence with a not-so-simple first game with Udinese at Juventus Stadium, while Lazio also face a difficult encounter at the Olympic Stadium with newly-promoted Bologna.

The league's runners-up AS Roma will visit Hellas Verona while last season's surprise package Genoa will visit a re-buffed Palermo side.

Fiorentina will face AC Milan at the Artemio Franchi in a tough first match for Sinisa Mihajlovic's new-look Rossoneri side, and Napoli travel to Sassuolo.

Inter Milan will host Atalanta at the San Siro, and Frosinone begin their Serie A life at home to Torino, whilst Carpi face the tough test of Sampdoria away at the Luigi Ferraris.

The opening set of fixtures are scheduled to be played on the 22nd and 23rd of August.

Early rounds loaded with exciting fixtures

Roma will host Juventus in a battle between first and second place of last season during matchday two (30th August 2015), and Napoli host Sampdoria on the same Giornata.

Juventus and Roma will clash again on January 24th in Turin, with the fixture coming on matchday 21.

Weeks three and four see Napoli vs Lazio and Sampdoria vs Roma respectively.

Derbies galore

The Derby della Madonnina will have its first installment on the third matchday (13th September), with Inter the designated home team for the first fixture.

In addition to the aforementioned early Inter/Milan encounter, the two will meet again in the second meeting on January 30th/31st, with Milan as the home team this time around.

Roma host Lazio on November 8th during the 12th round of fixtures in the Derby della Capitale, with the return on the 3rd of April.

The Derby d'Italia will see its first game in round eight (18th October) with Inter hosting Juventus at the San Siro, with the reverse fixture on matchday 27 (February 28th 2016).

The Turin derby underlines a superb round 11 (November 1st), in which Juventus host Torino in addition to Inter-Roma and Lazio-Milan. Torino will host their arch rivals Juventus in round 30, with the fixture pencilled in for May 20th.

Sampdoria will host Genoa in the penultimate fixture of their season on May 8th 2016, the first fixture of the Derby della Lanterna coming on January 6th at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

The two Verona clubs will clash for the first time on October 4th during round 7, and again on February 21st in the Derby della Scala's second instalment between Chievo and Hellas.

Promoted teams with tough beginning and end

Bologna and Carpi both begin with away fixtures at Lazio and Sampdoria respectively in games which massively favour the home side, while Frosinone will struggle with Torino coming to town in round one.

All three of Bologna, Carpi and Frosinone are away in the final game of the season, facing Chievo, Udinese and Napoli respectively. It may be important that none of the sides require a result going into the last game, as none of them have an 'easy ride'.

Crucial final round?

The last set of games of Serie A on May 15th 2016 pits AS Roma away at Milan and Lazio against Fiorentina in what could be big games with European, or possibly even title, implications.

Meanwhile, Juventus host Sampdoria in what they hope will be a trophy parade, and Napoli host Frosinone.

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