Italian church court (7)
I believe the answer is:
romance
'court' is the definition.
('romance' can be a synonym of 'court')
'italian church' is the wordplay.
'italian' becomes 'roman' (Roman is an example).
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'roman'+'ce'='ROMANCE'
(Other definitions for romance that I've seen before include "marriage?" , "(Wonderful) piece of fiction" , "Novel - love story" , "Group of languages" , "Court" .)