Italian lady returning an unspoken acknowledgement (5)
I believe the answer is:
donna
'italian lady' is the definition.
('lady' in Italian)
'returning an unspoken acknowledgement' is the wordplay.
'returning' says the letters should be written backwards.
'unspoken acknowledgement' becomes 'nod' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'an'+'nod'='annod'
'annod' backwards is 'DONNA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for donna that I've seen before include "Girl" , "Title of Spanish or Portuguese lady" , "Spanish lady's title" , "See 10" , "Title of Spanish or Italian lady" .)