Great question! In most Italian films and TV shows on Netflix, you can be pretty confident that you’re hearing standard Italian, although actors may have regional accents or use some local expressions.

Italy’s regional languages and dialects can be very different from standard Italian, but mainstream media usually uses Italian so that everyone can understand. Some shows, like My Brilliant Friend, intentionally include regional speech (in this case, Neapolitan) because it’s part of the story and setting.

For learning purposes, watching Italian shows is a great idea. Even regional accents can help train your ear and make you more comfortable with real-life Italian.