Has anyone tried learning another launguage

I took Spanish throughout middle and high school, I earned 18 credits in AP. I was fluent in Spanish and got a minor in it in college, then taught ESL for several years. After 20 years I can still speak, read and write in it, but its gotten harder and harder as I get older and use it less.
Just wanna say is that if you can speak/understand some Spanish you can get along in Italy as well. Both are romance languages, French is supposedly one, but to me its gobbly-gook lol.