In communist Poland in the 1950s, “comrade” Gianni Rodari was one of the most frequently translated authors: his works were published in the press and in book form. The aim of this paper is to investigate the first Polish edition of Tile of Cipollino. The novel was translated into Polish by Zofia Ernst in 1954, based on its first Italian edition (1951), significantly different from the next version – in 1957 the novel was modified by the author himself and is now known as Adventures of Cipollino. The paper focuses on the translation challenges and strategies employed by the translator and on issues related to presumed censorship.