Retranslation, intended as the «coexistence de plusieurs traductions, simultanées ou successives, de la même oeuvre (série de traductions)» (Skibińska 2007, 2), is an ancient and rather widespread phenomenon in various linguistic traditions. Drawing on some considerations that arose while studying the ever-growing bibliography on this topic, this article outlines the reasons, the effects and the modalities that distinguish this practice, which is gaining appreciation in many European literatures and cultures, foremost in the Italian one.