There is a country wide sticker/digital vignette you can get for different periods of time and a handful of tunnels that cost extra money that you can pay in cash or by card at the time you drive through one of those. How is that a mess?

Of course a system like Germany where you don't have any tolls is even easier but compared to France or Italy where you constantly have to pull over for toll stops and end up paying a multiple more for most trips I think this is pretty great

You can’t jump the toll gates in Italy, so even if I am a completely clueless tourist it is easy to comply with the laws.

What gets me is that I bought the Vignette but didn’t know there was an additional toll and a 130€ fine seems pretty large for the infraction severity. I would be more OK if the police pulled me over and gave me the ticket, but the cameras just scanned my license plate and sent me an automated fine. If the system was trying to enforce compliance instead of punishing me they could have just sent me a bill for the toll I didn’t pay (which was a few €).