The translation of dialect literature presents very particular problems and challenges for the translator. In addition to revealing the author's choice of form and content, the use of the dialect instead of the standard liteary language may have other scopes, such as "charecterization through speech", the infusion of regional flavor, or an inherent political comment. In Italian literature, the use of the dialect pre-dates the use of the standard language, in that the first writers were the Sicilian poets of the early Thirteenth Century. In the modern era the greatest dialect writer is Carlo Emlio Gadda, whose work has often been cited as innovative and influential. Utilizing Gadda as a paradigm, the author analyzes the nature of dialect literature and the unique role of the translator of the dialect text. Gadd's most influential work, Quer Pasticciaccio Brutto de Via Merulana, published by Garzanti in 1957, is written in more than ten dialects, with Roman the prevalent one. The author has chosen one of the most representative passages of the novel for scrutiny in terms of the challenges confronting the translator. This article also analyzes the translation performed by William Weaver in 1965 and offers the author's own version.