In Italy there is growing debate about the methods that can or should be adopted within the felds of preventive and rescue archaeology in the face of major infrastructure projects. Greater immediacy has been added by the potential (but not yet fully realised) impact of new domestic legislation dealing with procedures to be adopted to assess the potential archaeological implications of development projects. This contribution describes the methods brought to bear in advance of a major motorway development in Northern Italy, along with some of the insights gained from new approaches, both in drawing information from existing sources and from the deployment of a wide range of survey and investigation methods in the feld. It is clear, however, that conficts remain between ‘traditional’ approaches and the new opportunities presented by looking afresh at maximising gains and minimising losses in the course of such developments.