Save funds to buy a bike in good shape. Rare will be a $500. Top line Italian bike and for good reason. More like 2x to 3x.
Learn about the brands and eras.
Plenty of conversation of the forum to inform you, unfortunately the archives are not the easiest to navigate, so keep reading.
I will agree with others, for a more relaxed Italian road bike, the era would be ending in the very early 70's.
The presentation of 80's to 90's reads index shifting, forget that attribute.