Bulges and elliptical galaxies are showing a growing complexity in their structure and physical properties, highlighted by the new state-of-the-art IFU surveys. There has been tension between theory and observations regarding the interpretation and understanding of these objects. New, more sophisticated physical recipes in theoretical galaxy formation models allow for a more detailed and successful comparison with the recent observations, and highlight interesting connections between morphology, dynamics and star formation history of elliptical 

I will present the results of one such model, regarding the mass-size relation, the metallicity, the stellar population content, and the different channels of galaxy assembly that govern the evolution of elliptical galaxies.