I have an grandmother who flies to the US from Bulgaria about once a year.

Since she does not speak any English, we always try to book her on LOT-Polish. She does speak basic Polish and is comfortable with the small terminal in Warsaw.

However, I would never book her on an airline which she did not speak the language of. I can not imagine her going to the Alitalia transfer desk to collect her trans-atlantic boarding pass.

Anyways, you should have flown with them or at least notified the airline.