Ciao, maestro: Andrea Pirlo's 4 years with Juventus created a lifetime's worth of memories

"It was love at first sight; something that was in no way guaranteed when you consider where I was arriving from." - Andrea Pirlo

A lot can happen in four years.

It's enough time to fall in love with a group of people that, aside from major international tournaments every two years, viewed you as the enemy for over a decade. Enough time, more importantly, to have them reciprocate. Enough time to become a club legend, and have your name echoed in the rafters alongside those of Boniperti and Scirea, Buffon and Del Piero. Enough time to grow a beard.

It was only four years. For Juventus supporters, it felt like a lifetime.

The club announced Monday that Andrea Pirlo, the iconic midfielder who was the catalyst for the Old Lady's rise back to the top of Italian football, is taking his superlative passing skills and legendary suave to Major League Soccer, where he'll join expansion side New York City FC.

Related: Andrea Pirlo completes transfer to New York City FC from Juventus

Four years. It's enough time to rewrite your own personal history. Discarded by AC Milan in 2011, the best Italian midfielder of his generation joined a Bianconeri team mired in mediocrity, still feeling the devastating impact of the Calciopoli scandal.

Together, they rose from the ashes. The resurrection started almost instantly. Sixteen minutes into his first official match with the club, Pirlo started creating memories that would highlight his four trophy-laden years with the club.

That lofted pass to Stephan Lichtsteiner, dinked delicately over the top of the defense - like so many that would follow - announced to the world how grave a mistake Milan had made. Those free-kick goals, all 15 of them. That low, arrowed strike into the bottom left corner against bitter rivals Torino, with little more than six seconds before the referee blew the final whistle.

The crowd was screaming, nervously imploring you - begging, even - to conjure something from your magical bag of tricks that would break a 1-1 draw. He was, as always, the calmest, coolest person inside the Juventus Stadium.

That demeanour, the one that allowed him to attempt things others couldn't see or didn't want to see on the pitch, oozed from his every touch on the ball, and started trickling down to others in the squad.

That, in the grand scheme of it all, may be his greatest accomplishment with the club. His influence will linger long after he has scored his first free kick at Yankee Stadium, long after he sets up David Villa with a mesmerizing 40-yard ball that slices the defense to shreds.

"Being with Pirlo is just great – you learn every day with him and you just enjoy your football when you see him play. He’s been a top player for many years now and when you watch him you just want to be like him," Paul Pogba said.

"One day I’ll be able to say: 'I played with Pirlo,'" added Carlos Tevez, who will follow the bearded icon out the door this summer.

That, more than anything, will be his legacy.

As Juventus noted in a touching tribute to the now-departed 36-year-old, his influence was so much more than just the numbers - though with 164 appearances, 19 goals, 35 assists, and seven trophies, those were there, too.

Pirlo is all of these on the field: silent charisma, ball control, the dummy which floors one, two or three opponents in one go. The unexpected game-opening pass, the ball lifted over the defence.

Silent charisma; the conductor doesn't need to speak to make beautiful music. The dummy; the chess master is always one step ahead, leaving you chasing shadows. The majestic Italian was that shadow for many an opposing midfielder who tried - and failed - to neutralize him. Some succeeded, many more did not.

Never has a shadow been so slow, or so physically uninspiring; not dominant in the air or imposing in the tackle. He didn't need to be. An artist needs just one special gift. A genius, only his mind.

The brain with a perpetual engine, when the play is still far from him. A glance to the right, one to the centre and one to the left, to keep an eye on all of his teammates and opponents. To know before anybody else what will happen. It's not presage, it's not intuition. It's pure and simple intelligence.

This past season, one blighted by injuries and waning form, the competition starting getting smarter. The cracks started to show. A misplaced ball here, a turnover in a dangerous area there. A player whose game was predicated on inch-perfect passing and precision was beginning to see impurities sneak through. It was time.

After a lifetime's worth of memories, you can move on with tears of joy. As he wept on the pitch of the Olympiastadion following the 3-1 loss to Barcelona in last season's Champions League final, surely at least one tear rolling down his cheek came from a place of happiness.

A lot happened in the last four years. Things that Juventus supporters will never forget. It wouldn't have been possible without Pirlo.

Thank you, maestro. We are, and always will be, impressed.