This paper analyzes the problem of semantic adaptation of some Italian lexical borrowings in Polish in comparison with Italian source lexemes. The differences in meaning are illustrated not only by definitional evidence from dictionaries but also by citational evidence from the Korpus jezyka polskiego PWN and the Corpus della Repubblica. The analysis aims at presenting processes of semantic change that Italian lexical borrowings underwent in Polish due to linguistic or extralinguistic factors. The analyzed lexical borrowings from Italian are used with referential value (gastronomic borrowings that undergo the process of specialization), appear as citations naming strictly Italian items (omerta, kamorra), copy the polysemy of the source lexemes (getto, mafia) or undergo semantic generalization and acquire a Polish specific meaning (kawaler) or differ in connotational meaning (faszyzm).