The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the fact that when it comes to the translation of contemporary Italian fiction into Romanian, obscene and indecent language is being censored. Terms like ethics of reading, ethics of translation or decency will be discussed in order to find an answer to the question posed by the legitimacy of censorship in the name of decency, differently understood, in this particular case, by the translator and the author or the readers. The inadequacy of not translating obscene language will be demonstrated using textual analysis techniques.