Italian church passion (4)
I believe the answer is:
itch
'passion' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'italian church' is the wordplay.
'italian' becomes 'it'.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'it'+'ch'='ITCH'
(Other definitions for itch that I've seen before include "Tingle" , "A strong restless desire" , "It needs scratching" , "that's irritating" , "Yearn" .)