I've just done my hilly 55 miler on the old Gios.
Where do I start? Well the bad bits are, downtube friction levers, very slow to change and you can't take a corner fast and change gear at the same time for when you come out of it.
Brakes, no where near as good as dual pivot brakes and you have to have Hulk like qualities to pull them. Akin to them are the tiny hoods that offer no real handholds. And the bars 40cm Crit bars i.e they slope out and down from the centre blehhhh horrid.
I had a bit of an issue with the tiny seven speed freewheel giving me only 18t maxto climb with. Gearing aside it doesn't climb like a steep angled modern carbon job OBVIOUSLY.
All in all it was hard work, and I felt angry with myself because this is the bike I raced with in these parts twenty years ago without complaint.
The one place it shone was on the lanes and decents in 52 it just flew over and through potholes, feeling safe and comfortable.
I love the frame, but I can't live with the old Campag. So I might sell the entire Athena groupset and replace it with Shimano. I've got a Dura Ace chainset and B/B that wont look out of place on it and it'll save some weight.
I think thats the way to go. Lovely as the Campag is, we have evolved.

BTW Riding that today I do think steel is the way to go if you suffer with the old back.

Fitted an old Dura Ace 7700 chainset and Italian Dura Ace B/B that's shaved off a fair old bit.

OK I don't want to chuck money at this but I do want to use it so I've thought about the following.
Change the rear hub to 9 speed
Change the rear mech to 9 speed
Source 9 speed ergos.
Will, do you think modern pads be better than the original 1990 (un worn) campagnolo ones.
Will a Campagnolo 9 speed chain run over my old 9 speed Dura Ace chainset.
Swap the bars for wider modern ones.
Sell the Athena chainset & bottom bracket, Rear mech, down tube shifters, rear hub & freewheel, brake levers, original pads in chrome cassette and Cinelli Criterium bars.

Talking to mysef here aren't I 😐

Riding that today I do think steel is the way to go if you suffer with the old back.

Or maybe that's just that it's not "a steep angled" modern frame.

OK I don't want to chuck money at this

Sounds to me like that's exactly what you are doing!

I want to recoup the money I spend on s/h 9 speed with the sale of the old 7 speed.
Of course the slack angles, I didn't think of that. What with the thin steel as well it made for a great ride on the rough roads.