This post contains spoilers about Master of None Season 2.

Alessandra Mastronardi landed on Master of None’s critically acclaimed second season by a pure stroke of luck. The petite Italian actress (born in Naples, raised in Rome, currently residing in London) was only able to audition for series star and co-creator Aziz Ansari after he missed a flight to New York from London, and rushed to meet him at her agent’s suggestion. But unlike most busy actresses, Mastronardi had never heard of the show—or the man she was about to meet.

“Aziz was asking me, ‘Do you know me?’ ” Mastronardi recalls. “And I said ‘mmm—not at all.’ ”

Two weeks later, she nabbed the role of Francesca, a wide-eyed dream girl entangled in a relationship with another man—much to the disappointment of Dev (Ansari). In a chat with V.F., Mastronardi gives her true opinion about Ansari’s Italian-speaking skills—and how she felt about that ambiguous season finale.

Vanity Fair: How is Aziz’s Italian? Did you ever have to correct him or give him notes?

Alessandra Mastronardi: Well . . . he sounds like a Russian baby speaking Italian [laughs]. It’s so weird because he’s an American, so it’s like, why do you speak Russian? It was funny for me. I started to correct him in the beginning, and then I thought it was too funny, so I stopped it. But he’s actually not bad. His Italian is not that bad.

What was it like shooting in Modena?

It was really interesting to see how he [Ansari] lived in Modena before the show. I didn’t believe him, that he actually lived in Modena for a long period on his own, making pasta. I thought that was really impressive, someone like him to just stop everything, all his work, and just go to Modena just to learn how to make pasta . . . he did it for real. I saw the place; I met the people who were here making pasta every day. During the stop of the shooting over there, we were just going around and eating more food.

Has he ever cooked for the cast?

I know that he did, but not to me. I never tasted anything that he made, so I don’t know if he actually can make pasta or not. He said he can make it—but I’m Italian. I think he never did it because he’s too afraid of me, of my judgment [laughs]. I’m pretty sharp.

The first episode of Season 2 is a tribute to The Bicycle Thief and the great Italian neorealism films. When you were reading that script, did you give him tips to make it more authentic?

He was really picky to make everything more real. For example, the script at the beginning obviously was in English to make everybody understand what we were talking about, and then when we had to translate in Italian, he was really into the right translation. . . he always was telling me you have to feel what is written on the script. If you don’t feel it, change it. It’s rare that you find someone that can say to you, ‘Change it if you don’t like it.’ A lot of writers are really possessive about their own project. Aziz makes you feel comfortable.

Your character comes to New York, and she really loves the drugstore Duane Reade, which I thought was so funny. Do you remember your first Duane Reade experience?

I know this sounds stupid, but that was actually something that happened to me. One day I was talking to Aziz, and I said that the first time that I arrived in New York, I went to Duane Reade and I went crazy. I have never seen something like this before in my life. He was so shocked that he put it in the script [laughs]. I feel a little bit embarrassed. Many of the things that happen in the show, they’re real. This is Aziz. He puts all your life into a script.

How did you feel about that ending when you first read it?

To be honest with you, we had several options for the end. Aziz and Alan [Yang, Master of None co-creator], they had really been talking about the end for ages. At the beginning she was going back with Pino, because we thought that’s what, in real life, happens.

This end is kind of an emotional, dreaming end. You actually don’t know what’s gonna happen. She goes with him, she leaves Pino—but the faces at the end, they’re kind of, loneliness. This is my favorite choice, because I don’t really like when a director gives you the definite end of a story. I want to think about it.

What did you think? Did you like it?

I liked the way it was done—there’s no words, just this quick visual and then cut. Even though they’re together now, it’s still ambiguous.

Yeah, it’s not always so easy. As a woman, I think that when you leave a person that’s been with you for so many years, it’s not always a happy decision, you know? There is always something that is boiling inside you, if you made the right choice or not. So it’s not necessarily happy.

If I went to Rome, what would give me away as an American tourist—besides speaking English?

[Laughs] Well, definitely you have to try your best to avoid tourist cites. Take an aperitif around 6:30 with a spritz. That’s a really Italian thing. Aziz was obsessed.

What was the best thing you ate while shooting the show?

When we were in Modena, we shot in Massimo Bottura’s restaurant, and it was one of the most beautiful experiences I ever had in my life. If you go to Modena, you have to book a table over there. Obviously, it’s a Michelin star, so it’s not really cheap, but it’s an experience, so you have to have it once in your life.

The show is the perfect vehicle for Aziz to eat the best food in the world.

I know. I always say to him, “You’re a bastard,” and he knows that. Don’t worry. He eats so much, I love it. He’s in Japan now; he’s been to Japan to write, and he’s been eating the most amazing Japanese food.

Does he text you about his amazing meals?

Yeah, we send each other meal pictures, or like food-porn pictures. He sends me, like, pictures everywhere he goes in restaurants, and I send pictures of my grandmother cooking in Naples. It’s so funny.

This interview has been edited and condensed.