I've never been to Italy but I've heard Americans being disappointed with Italian pizza for the reasons you've just mentioned.
Mostly, Italians just use tomatoes and a sprinkling of cheese on a thin crust.
Sicilian pizza is the best. It's the peas.
We lived In Pozzuoli just outside of Naples for three years when I was a “tween.”
They don’t do a lot of toppings, but the blend of tomato sauce, cheese and seasonings and the crust make those pizzas perfection! I never had a bad pizza there, but my favorite was a little hole in the wall across the street from us.
Once or twice a month, our parents would give my brother and me some lire and send us across the street for a couple of pies for dinner. We’d play foosball while they made our pizzas. Mom would whip up a salad and that was one of our favorite meals.