Short answer: no. Except maybe for picking up a word here and there. Reading Latin is somewhat easier, except for poetry, where the word order is completely hop

Short answer: no. Except maybe for picking up a word here and there. Reading Latin is somewhat easier, except for poetry, where the word order is completely hopeless. Source: I am Italian. Edit: most Italians study Latin in high school, but the curriculum is focused on grammar and literary works, not casual conversation, and very little of writing down your own essays, or God forbid speaking it. At the end of high school, you can almost - I mean almost - read Caesar's texts fluently, and then it quickly fades away due to lack of practice. The only remaining use is to read some historical plaques in city centers, and even that is quite difficult since they often contain strange abbreviations, made-up grammar from the middle ages, or missing pieces.