I'm not sure how old your Univega Nuovo Sport is..I worked for Univega in late seventies.
This model is has a high-tension steel frame/fork and before mountain bikes arrived was one of Univega's
volume sellers for recreational cyclists. From the amount of work you would put in, I would not recommend restoring it since at the end you will not be rewarded with any appreciable performance gain.
Instead, I would (depending on how often you ride) buy a new or used bike of much more recent vintage that suits the type of riding you do. The sentimentality factor is harder to quantify...if you prize the bike for the reason that your father owned it, you could simply clean it and keep it in the garage as a momento. I know I've got a few of these myself.......