Crossword Genius

Gold violin cases nearly closed a road in Italy (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

autostrada

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'road in italy' is the definition.
'autostrada' can be an answer for 'road' (autostrada is a kind of road). I am not sure about the 'in italy' bit.

'gold violin cases nearly closed a' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'violin' becomes 'strad' (Stradivari abbreviation).
'cases' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'nearly closed' becomes 'to' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'au'+'strad'='austrad'
'austrad' enclosing 'to' is 'autostrad'.
'autostrad'+'a'='AUTOSTRADA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for autostrada that I've seen before include "motorway abroad" , "European highway" , "way Mafiosi might take?" , "expressway" , "fast route" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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