Glad you like it (and La Sonnambula!)
Yes, I did start young (maybe not by today's standards though), about seven or eight. I had a big gap after leaving school, however, and didn't really play piano for close on ten years, so there was no conservatory education. When I returned to taking piano seriously, I ended up having intermittent private lessons with a guy who was considered a good teacher and who was also a Paris Conservatoire graduate. He did a lot of good for me on the discipline side of things. I always had good natural technique, and whilst I had self-taught myself a fair amount by working through Liszt etudes and rhapsodies, if it hadn't been for his professional input I would have remained a somewhat undisciplined pianist with a bit of natural ability.