No doubt chiellini and barzagli made him look better than he always was. As an individual he has never been a traditional top notch Italian defender. Even in the winning euro team under mancini he played a great tournament with chiellini, but again that team was ridiculously well organised.
Now, with a terrible midfield in front of him, in a team that is dysfunctional, he again looks like he did over a decade ago which was average.