Central region of Italy or northern county of England (7)
I believe the answer is:
cumbria
'northern county of england' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'central region of italy' is the wordplay.
'central' becomes 'c' (common abbreviation in various government acronyms).
'region of italy' becomes 'umbria' (I've seen this before).
'c'+'umbria'='CUMBRIA'
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cumbria that I've seen before include "Keswick's county" , "NW English county" , "Northwest English county" , "County of NW England" , "Area of NW England" .)