The DAI's long-standing presence and activities in its host country Italy for more than 190 years have created the foundations of trust that shore up all research projects overseen by the department. Archaeological fieldwork has profoundly changed over time, owing to technological innovation and digital networking. 3D laser scanners, drones, geophysical measuring instruments, and scientific probing methods significantly speed-up and increase the precision at which excavation sites are recorded, evaluated, and interpreted today. More than ever is modern archaeology located at the interface between the humanities  and the natural sciences, whilst also maintaining close links with measures of capacity-building and site enhancement. The databases of the images, texts, and artefacts in all departments are respectively linked to the digital libraries.
By contrast to the Athens Department, which was founded in 1874, the institute in Rome was to begin with first and foremost interested  image research. Since the 1960s, image, object, and field research have been part of the department's enlarged methodological toolkit, which continually is undergoing expansion through hosts of interdisciplinary cooperation. This includes applications in the natural sciences, architectural research, epigraphic projects, as well as such disciplines to be found at the interface between archaeology and the digital humanities. Site management and enhancement measures have particularly gained in culture-political significance both in Italy, where the DAI has been involved in the restoration of the Domus Aurea in Rome since 2008, and in North Africa. More recently, the institute has been especially engaged with capacity-building efforts at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Carthage as well as at Cherchell (Algeria) and in Libya, which in the coming years will continue to develop in conjunction with the maintenance of research projects in the field.