Four phases, One discipline.

In nine years of operation, Arcadia Company has developed a core operational belief: the quality of an investigation is not measured by the case’s complexity, but by the discipline with which the protocol is followed. Evidence collected without traceability — even if technically correct — can be dismissed in court. A dossier lacking cross‑check exposes the client to challenges that nullify months of field work.

Chain of custody as a foundation

Every piece of evidence collected by Arcadia Company immediately enters a documented chain of custody: date and time, responsible operator, source, collection method. Nothing is acquired informally. This principle applies to a photograph taken during an on‑site inspection as well as to an OSINT trace extracted from public databases: the evidence has probative value only if its origin is verifiable and indisputable to the judge, arbitrator, or technical consultant.

Respecting the chain of custody is not an additional bureaucratic requirement — it is what makes evidence practically usable in court, in labour disputes, divorces, and civil or criminal proceedings. The client’s investment yields no real results if the evidence does not pass the judge’s scrutiny. For this reason we treat every collection as if it were destined for a courtroom, regardless of the client’s intended final use.

Reference regulatory framework

Arcadia Company’s activity is carried out in full compliance with Decreto Ministeriale 1 December 2010, n. 269, which regulates the practice of private investigative activity in Italy, defining technical requirements, operational procedures and the limits within which authorized agencies may collect and document evidence. Every operator involved in an investigation possesses the required honorability and the authorisations mandated by current legislation.

The processing of personal data in the context of investigations is carried out in accordance with EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and the provisions of the Italian Privacy Code. For each assignment, a balance is assessed between the client’s legitimate interest and the privacy protection of the individuals concerned, in line with the interpretative criteria issued by the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali and with the jurisprudence of the Corte di Cassazione on covert defensive checks.

Independent double verification

The cross‑check protocol is the element that distinguishes Arcadia Company’s work from a single investigative testimony. No evidence enters the final dossier unless confirmed by more than one source. The verification process includes an initial analysis by the operator who collected the evidence and an independent review by a second operator not involved in the collection phase.

When double verification is technically impossible — for example for video evidence of non‑repeatable events — the evidence is explicitly classified as “single source” with a corresponding note in the dossier body. This methodological transparency allows the client and its legal advisers to assess the probative weight of each piece of evidence consciously and informedly, without unpleasant surprises at trial.

Jurisprudential guidance: The Corte di Cassazione has repeatedly confirmed the full legitimacy of private investigative investigations carried out by authorized agencies, provided they are conducted within regulatory limits and aimed at protecting a legitimate interest of the client. Evidence collected correctly is admissible as documentary proof in civil, criminal and labour proceedings.