Why Pisa's wing turrets were comparatively practical

Was the Pisa-class wing-turret arrangement a practical layout?

Relatively; the guns were small enough to fire forward without the worst blast effects, although one standardised main battery would still have been preferable.

The Pisa-class wing-turret layout was practical with a caveat. The mounted guns could fire forward without the blast effects expected from much heavier weapons. That made the geometry more usable than superficially similar capital-ship arrangements. A standardised main battery would still have been preferable, so the praise applies to the placement rather than the mixed-gun philosophy.