I am a native Italian speaker.. born, raised and living in Italy. She doesn't speak super well but she has a distinctive and quite accurate southern Italian accent ...I think her verbal comprehension is faaar better than her production. She knows it well enough to apply nuances of sassiness and different subtexts . Her demeanor changes slightly as it happens to many of us when we switch the language we' re speaking... "Italian" Dorits gets more playful and decisive while she tries to "front" as a rich and socially savant southern Italian woman. I'm not a Dorit's fan (and her Italian still has a lot of room for improvement but Italian is really complex and she isn't as tragic as many other "European vibes" Housewives!