Italian's first proper answer (5)

I believe the answer is:

prima

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'italian's first' is the definition.
'prima' can be an answer for 'first' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'italian's' bit.

'proper answer' is the wordplay.
'proper' becomes 'prim' (prim and proper).
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'prim'+'a'='PRIMA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for prima that I've seen before include "First" , "Leading" , "Top diva is a . . . . . donna" , "in pole position" .)

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