Leo Africanus’ celebrated Descrittione dell’Affrica is not strico sensu a translation; however, it is an attempt by an Arab-speaking author to describe the geography, the culture, the customs of North and West Africa, in a language, Italian, that he did not master, for readers who presumably knew next to nothing about the subject. His work is thus a linguistic, but also a cultural translation. Its important impact on European culture shows that this translation basically succeeded. However, sometimes his text reaches the limits of of the powers of translation, especially because it was written at a time when its potential Italian and other European readers had very few other books to refer to in order to complete and contextualize Leo’s; nor did the Italian language always offer Leo the words he needed in order to express foreign concepts. His use of numerous Arabic and Berber words is one manifestation of the difficulties he encountered.