This article analyses some difficulties inherent in British translations and productions of Italian plays. The author argues that these are not so much related to the exotic character of Italian theatre itself, but that they are generated by the British attitude to Mediterranean cultures, in particular Italian culture. Starting from the notion of faithfulness to the original, the author shows how the reception of Italian theatre is influenced by an opposition between British and Italian cultures and by what has been called a discourse of the south. This attitude to Italian culture reveals itself in the two diverging strategies adopted in British productions of Italian drama: one adheres to a stereotypical image of Italian culture, which involves reducing Italian characters to caricatures; the other consists of transferring Italian plays to a British milieu to ensure the domestication of those aspects of Italian drama deemed too exotic to be accepted by target spectators.