Archaeologists have long been confronted with the theme of preventive archaeology, on a theoretical, methodological and operational level, with the intention of encouraging strategies for the prevention and management of archaeological risk but also to limit the cost of public works not only in old and new cities but also on the territory. The essay analyses the evolution of Italian legislation starting from the European Convention on the protection of archaeological heritage (Malta1992) up to the current laws and the recent circulars on the subject issued by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The text highlights the main criticalities of the legislation for the protection of archaeological remains due to technical deficiencies but above all, to the lack of recognition of the material and immaterial value of the archaeological heritage the protection of which is still seen today as an impediment to modernity and progress. Preventive archaeology, on the other hand, does not need attitudes of disciplinary closure but is based on the concept of transdisciplinarity understood as a new ‘attitude’ towards the antiquity. It is based on the shared action of people capable of contaminating their own knowledge, because the defence of the archaeological deposit should be understood as a collective responsibility on which to base the identity of all citizens.