Italian gunnery was undermined by shell quality, not aiming

Were Italy's battleship gunnery problems caused by poor targeting?

No; the principal problem described here was inconsistent shell quality, which made accurately aimed rounds follow unpredictable trajectories.

Italian fire-control systems could acquire targets and generate accurate solutions at very long range. The failure came when ammunition varied enough that shells did not fly according to the calculated ballistic pattern. A longer-running 15-inch-gun programme based on the Caracciolos would create more production, testing, and service experience before the next battleship generation. That continuity might expose and reduce quality-control problems, although this remains a possibility rather than a certainty.