The article deals with the specifics of the cultural transfer from Italy into Russia. It offers an overview of the reception of Italian literature in Russia, substantiates the preference toward the classics (Dante, Petrarca, Ariosto and Tasso). The main theme of the article is the history of the perception of Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata: the dynamics of translation strategies is linked to the dynamics of the Russian epic poetry from Kheraskov to Pushkin.