> 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.
I took two years of Latin in college. I had the same experience.
That's pretty much how Latin is taught in the US (where it is offered at all) as well. There is a movement called "living Latin" that aims to teach Latin as a spoken language, but only a very few institutions offer it.
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.