My wife has a long cage Veloce. I have a med cage Chorus. Both of us have 34/50 compact cranks.
We go up some pretty steep hills. I mean, we're old and fat, but dammit, we still go up some really steep hills. And loaded for touring, too.
Here's mine:
It's all on a '69 Competition, so it's somewhat CV. Only the crankset and derailleurs are modern. They just work so smooth...it's irresistible.