Italian translations of Crnjanski's Sumatra Every work of literary is unique, particular and individual, fixed in a precise moment in time. This however, is not the case with its translation. A translation is a variable reflection and the result of the translator's reading of the text, interpretation, understanding as well as his/her personal criteria and sensibility. In this respect, Crnjanski’ Sumatra in its subject matter, motifs, composition, and as a lexical unit, lends itself to an analysis of the translation techniques used in its translations from Serbian into Italian. The authors of the translations into Italian of Sumatra, are italian Slavists: Luigi Salvini, Arturo Cronia, Sofia Zani and a poet, Osvaldo Ramous. Their translations were published in eminent anthologies and various collections over a period of almost 50 years, with the first translation being published in 1941 and the last in 1992. The aim of this essay is to analyse all the translations in a comparative and a parallel manner, in order to show explicitly, with examples from the text, what was kept and what was lost in the translation. An analysis of the translation of the same poem, published in 2005 in the anthology Poesia serba nel Novecento, by Dragan Mraović, whose native language is not that of the translation, to wit, Italian, will illustrate the numerous problems connected with literary translations in general, and above all those attendant in the translation of poetry. The essay, then, will focus on this particular feature.