Sorry I didnt' mention that I use the latest version of everything: so Org 7.8.11 and Aquamacs version 2.4. based on GNU Emacs 23.3.50.1. Bastien thanks for the suggestion. I have tried what you suggested and used Emacs from the Terminal Application in Mac OS X: in this case I have no problems. Diacritics inserted in the org file by hitting the proper key in the Italian keyboard layout are correctly displayed: File Edit Options Buffers Tools Help diacritics è à ì diacritics are displayed -uuu:---F1 myfile.org All L1 (Fundamental)----------------------------- Loading image...done What should I do to check which version of Emacs is charged when I use the Terminal application? Pierfranco 2012/8/24 Bastien > Hi Pierfranco, > > Pierfranco Minsenti writes: > > > Has anybody found this? Any idea how to fix it? > > Do you have this error with > > emacs -Q > C-x f ~/myfile.org > [some diacritics] > > ? > > If you use another version of Org on top of the Emacs version, > maybe you can also check emacs -Q + loading this version and see > what does not works. > > -- > Bastien >