Don’t call it a comeback. They’ve been here for years. Call it a reinvention. An evolution. A modernization. Whatever you call it, it’s all part of a cash and design infusion into the Italian automaker that has be struggling to find a foothold in the marketplace for years.

Fresh on the heels of announcing an electrified future, Maserati has rebased its own series of spy shots featuring the MC20 prototype. The MC20 is a sports car that was designed and engineered at the Maserati Innovation Lab in Modena, Italy.

That bit about being straight from Italy is important to the brand. Despite being owned by a company headquartered in the Netherlands (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) that is about to merge with a company headquartered in France (PSA Group), the Maserati team has been given the freedom to design using Italian sports car DNA.

The selection of photos Maserati publicized as part of the testing announcement were meant to illustrate the company’s new global statement, “Master of Italian Audacity.” In the infamous words of that classic American tale “Dodgeball”, “That’s a bold strategy, Cotton.”

Maserati is calling the MC20 the “first and ultimate” expression of that new statement.

The prototype has been photographed at night in Piazza degli Affari in Milan, below a giant white marble hand statue with broken fingers called “L.O.V.E” by renowned artist Maurizio Cattelan. The statue was created in 2010 and its name is an acronym for the Italian words libertà, odio, vendetta, eternità (freedom, hate, vengeance, eternity).

The car’s trip around Milan kicks off the start of a period of road and track tests, in various conditions of use, to acquire vital data for the preparation of the car’s final setup.