I spent quite a long time commuting between Rome-Padova-Milan-Venice (and may be doing that again in near future). The reality is that one can choose to pay that, or one can choose to pay something else by easily finding local options.

Italian food is something which I consider 'easy' for even the unadventurous palate, and there is a vast array of choices. But many tourists don't bother, or are too scared, or don't care about finding those local choices. (I'm not calling BadgerBoi or anyone else on this thread unadventurous, just responding to the general conversation)

I read a trip report from people on a Disney cruise who thought that gelato was 'too strange' to even try it. Gelato is sold in America, and isn't that far different from ice cream, so I'm not certain why they felt that way. I also read about a similar group (Disney cruise line, different people) who complained to the owner of a Roman pizza shop that the pizza was the worst they had ever tasted, because it didn't taste like American pizza. (I cannot stand most American pizza) They were then surprised when the owner didn't refund their money, and demanded that they leave.

I will happily admit to eating many a meal courtesy of Autogrill in my life. I think that they sell some of the best arancini in Italy, and offer a wide menu all over Italy. For the really unadventurous, there are places like Spizzico.

Places targetting tourists often feature items not common to the local cuisine, combined with high prices, because as stifle says they know that they can charge those prices and still have a lot of business. It's similar to buying American (or German) food in a local grocery store; they will tend to be higher priced than the local equivalent.