The Serie A began over a week ago, but only one match has been played by all teams, with the flow of things disrupted as the 2012 Euro qualifiers began. Now, to celebrate the real beginning of the Serie A this weekend, home of the Champions League trophy holders Inter and a league looking to bring back its flair and somewhat lost popularity in recent years, here are the 10 greatest scorers in the history of the Serie A.

Number 10 – Giampiero Boniperti, 178 Goals

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A Juve man and eventually a hero from the first moment he stepped on the Serie A pitches and until he hung his boots, Boniperti, now 82, dominated the Juventus scoring records for over 60 years, until one Alessandro Del Piero came along, becoming Juve’s all time leading goalscorer in 2006 in all competitions. Boniperti’s numbers are especially impressive looking at the first few years of his career, scoring over 15 goals in five consecutive seasons, including 27 in the 1947-1948 one, leading the league. He won five league titles with Juventus, including three as part of the Magical Trio, playing alongside John Charles and Omar Sivori.

Number 9 – Gabriel Batistuta, 184 Goals

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You don’t get nicknamed Batigol for nothing. Batistuta played 12 seasons in Italy, scoring 184 goals, most of them with Fiorentina, where he played nine seasons and is still practically a legend with club supporters. Batistuta led the league in scoring once, 1994-1995, scoring 26 league goals, and surpassed the 20 goal mark four more times, including on his first season with AS Roma, winning his first and only league title in Italy, scoring 20 goals. Batistuta is also Argentina’s all time leading goal scorers, with 56 goals in 78 matches for the national team.

Number 8 – Giueseppe Signori, 188 Goals

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A three time Serie A top scorer, Signori was one of the best strikers in Europe during the early 90’s, mostly due to his time with Lazio, scoring 107 league goals in 152 matches between 1992-1997. He found more success later in his career after transferring to Bologna, scoring 67 goals in six seasons with the club. Despite his impressive scoring record, Signori never won any titles with any of his teams and failed to impress for the national team.

Number 7 – Kurt Hamrin, 190 Goals

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The Swedish striker is a residet of Florence to this day, and scored most of his goals in Italy (190) with Fiorentina, 150 goals, where he spent nine seasons, famously winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961. He had three seasons with 20+ goals while playing in Serie A, including two consecutive 26 goal seasons for Fiorentina (1958-1960). He also played for Juventus, Padova, AC Milan and Napoli. He won his only Serie A with AC Milan and the European Cup a year later.

Number 6 – Francesco Totti, 192 Goals

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The only one on this list that’s still playing, like Boniperti, Totti has been a one-club man his entire career. With AS Roma since 1992, the 2006 World Champion and 2001 Italian Champion, Totti has been scoring in double digits for the last eight seasons, including 20 in the 2003-2004 season and 26 in 2006-2007, leading the scorers in Italy and the European Golden Shoe.

Number 5 – Roberto Baggio, 205 Goals

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Il Divion Codino never won a World Cup like Totti or stayed with one club long enough to become a god among its fans, but he is one of the more loveable players of his generation, besides being a fuckin’ awesome player. When it comes to scoring, Baggio never seemed to lose his touch. He never led the Serie A in goals, but was consistent throughout his career – 11 season with 10 or more goals, six with over 15 and two with over 20, including a career best 22 when playing for Bologna in 1997-1998, a sort of comeback season for the man. He played for Fiorentina, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter among others, winning two Serie A titles in his 19 seasons at the Serie A.

Number 4 – Jose Altafini, 216 Goals

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Part of the 1958 Brazil World Cup winning squad, Altafini actually played for two national teams, winning six caps with Italy in the early 60’s, but is mostly known for his time with AC Milan between 1958-1965. He won two league titles with AC Milan and scored 92 goals during his first four seasons with the club, including a career best 28 in 1958-1959. His 22 goals in 1961-1962 were good enough to top the Italian scoring charts. He also played for Napoli and Juventus later on, winning two league titles with Juventus.

Number 3 – Giuseppe Meazza, 216 Goals

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The man who led Italy to two World Cup triumphs in 1934 and 1938 also played for the three big clubs in Italy – Milan, Juventus but mostly Inter. Meazza played 13 years with Inter Milan, winning two league titles with the club and led the Serie A in scoring on three different occasions – 1929-1930, scoring 31 goals, 1935-1936, scoring 25 and in 1937-1938, scoring 20 goals. He scored 20+ goals eight times and over 30 twice. Meazza was considered the greatest player in the World during the 1930’s and both Inter and AC Milan play in the stadium named after him.

Number 2 – Gunnar Nordahl, 225 Goals

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Another AC Milan’s 50’s giant, Nordahl, still the club’s all time leading goal scorer with 210 goals, was part of the Rossoneri’s Gre-No-Li era, partnering up with two other Swedish players, Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm during his eight seasons with AC Milan. He won two league titles with the club and led the Serie A in goals five times. During his eight seasons with Milan, Nordahl only once scored less than 23 goals during a season – 16 goals in 15 matches in 1948-1949, when he spent half the season in Sweden, playing for Norrkoping.

Number 1 – Silvio Piola, 274 Goals

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Amazingly, the Serie A’s all time leading goal scorer, World Champion with the national team in 1938, two time Serie A top scorer and the man who (arguably) invented the bicycle kick, never won a league title. He played for Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Torino, Juventus and Novara, scoring 274 goals in almost 25 years of playing soccer. His record seems to be pretty safe for a very long time. He also has an outstanding scoring record for the national team with 30 goals in 34 caps.