The essay deeply analyzes the relationship between data protection and public transparency. Technological and social evolution, regulatory changes (the new European Data Protection Regulation, on the one hand, and the new general access and transparency rules, on the other) make it necessary to reflect on the relationship between two values and two fundamental rights, at first sight conflicting. The study of the principles governing the two systems, privacy and transparency, makes it possible to develop some normative "balancing" strategies. In the Italian administrative system, the resulting balance is necessary and variable as well. Balance depends first and foremost on the features of transparency tools. The resulting framework is complex and composite; balancing solutions and mechanisms change in relation to the different forms of transparency, which are: access to documents, publication requirements, and freedom of information.