Italian poet losing heart in court (4)
I believe the answer is:
date
'court' is the definition.
(romantically pursue)
'italian poet losing heart' is the wordplay.
'italian poet' becomes 'Dante' (Dante Alighieri).
'losing heart' means to remove the middle letters.
'dante' with its middle taken out is 'DATE'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for date that I've seen before include "one's arranged to meet" , "Romantic appointment" , "retrieved from palmtop?" , "Assignation; fruit" , "See 12" .)