Why Mediterranean waters restrict battlecruiser tactics

Why would battlecruisers be a poor match for Italian battleships in the Mediterranean?

Their survivability relied heavily on manoeuvre, and Mediterranean waters offered less room to exploit that advantage.

The problem extends beyond whether a British battlecruiser could absorb Italian battleship fire. A battlecruiser's survivability depended partly on using speed and manoeuvre to complicate an enemy's gunnery solution. Mediterranean geography constrained that freedom more than open-ocean operations. Committing the ships there could expose scarce capital ships while suppressing one of the tactical qualities for which they had been designed.