Being amoroso? Particular habit of certain Italians (8)

I believe the answer is:

romantic

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'of certain italians' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'being amoroso? particular habit' is the wordplay.
'being amoroso? particular' becomes 'roman' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'habit' becomes 'tic' (I have seen 'Nervous habit' mean 'tic' so perhaps 'habit' could also mean 'tic').
'roman'+'tic'='ROMANTIC'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for romantic that I've seen before include "Sentimental" , "Relating to love" , "Amorous, showing loving feeling" , "Imaginative or amorous" , "as Darnay perhaps" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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