The chief objectives of the Institute of Anglo-Italian Studies, established in 1988, are to conduct research in the field of Anglo-Italian cultural relations, with special reference to literature and language and to hold international conferences, seminars and similar meetings on topics in this area of interest. Postgraduate degree courses (by research) in Anglo-Italian Studies are organised within the Faculty of Arts under the auspices of the Institute.

The first issue of the Journal of Anglo-Italian Studies was published in 1991. To date eighteen volumes have been produced. The Journal, which is listed in the Modern Languages Association Directory of Learned Journals, has established itself as one of the leading journals in this interdisciplinary field of studies. The Journal's advisory committee is composed of scholars of international repute in this field of study.

The Institute has established a name for itself in the field so much so that, in March 1995, the Association for Italian Studies based at Oxford held its biennial conference in Malta. Over sixty academics from various British Universities including Oxford, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Warwick and Trinity College, Dublin, attended.

The Institute has ongoing research links with the Universities of Oxford and Bologna and is collaborating with the latter in the production of the Journal of Comparative Literature entitled Romanticismi. Further collaboration has resulted in the setting up of a Centre for European Literary and Cultural Studies at Bologna. The publication of a Directory of Scholars who are actively engaged in research in this field of study and their research interests is a more recent joint venture.

Rev. Professor Alfonso Sammut's unfinished Bibliography of Anglo-Italian Studies was also completed and published in 1997 under the editorship of Professor Peter Vassallo with the assistance of the late Professor Franco Lanza from the University of Viterbo. Professor Vassallo also sits on the Advisory Editorial Board (Comitato Scientifico) of the periodical La Questione Romantica which is devoted to literary and cultural studies in European Romanticism.  

Professor Dominic Fenech is the Chair of the Institute. Professor Gloria Lauri-Lucente, Director of the Institute, teaches Italian Literature and Cinema as well as Comparative Literature in the Department of Italian, and coordinates the Master of Arts in Film Studies, Faculty of Arts.

In May 2023, the Institute hosted the 13th International Conference entitled 'Britain & Italy: Literary and Cultural Relations'. The conference was well attended by a number of specialists in this interdisciplinary field of study.