Authorises things, having left for Italy (8)

I believe the answer is:

entitles

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'authorises' is the definition.
(entitling is a kind of authorizing)

'things having left for italy' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'left' could be 'l' (common abbreviation) and 'l' is present in the answer.
'italy' could be 'it' and 'it' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for entitles that I've seen is " Gives a right to - just settle in".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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