The paper analyses several re-translations the author made for a number of Italian novels as both a critic and an unsatisfied reader, who could not find in existing translation, the original tone of books he knew and appreciated. Three different cases are discussed. 1. La Coscienza di Zeno had to be revised for an incoherent use of names and for syntactic problems, since in the former translation Svevo’s long sentences had been wilfully cut into short and sharp phrases in line with the stylistic requirements of the Nouvelle Revue Française. 2. In the case of Pavese’s Paesi tuoi it was necessary to match the author's choice of a certain language variety: i.e. the language of common people. The former translator had used slang, a perpetually evolving language that nowadays gives the text an out-of-fashion, coarse and vulgar tone. 3. In Calvino’s novels inspired by the “Resistenza”, colloquial syntax and coarse language, as well as the incorrect translation of Partisans’ pseudonyms made Calvino’s text sound vulgar. Some explanations are suggested as to the reasons underlying the misunderstandings in the former translations.