Incredibly disappointed with the food in Italy, what am I doing wrong..?

Overall the food has been rather bland and well, not that much better than Italian food I have regularly at home (California)

We've been to Rome, Florence and Naples so far

Maybe my expectations were way too high but the pasta, pizza and bread have all been... Good. Not great. It's not horrible food, of course, but it isn't life changing either

We've tried doing extensive research and finding popular places and also just wandering around neighborhoods and finding places with lines out the door.

We're not ordering pepperoni pizza or fettuccini Alfredo or anything "American" as far as I know.

We've avoided eating in Piazzas or places where someone tried to get you to sit down. We've avoided places with English menus and we've been to places where we are the only Americans there.

Actually going to farmers markets and buying ingredients on our own has been DELICIOUS but eating at restaurants... They've been, fine.

To be fair we did have the best panino in Florence, insanely good pizza in Naples and an amazing Roman Chicken in Rome but those have been the only highlights after two weeks here

I was just expecting every meal to be mind blowing

Some of the most flavorful food here has been Sri Lankan places.

What am I doing wrong??