Italian union leader admitted to gathering in formal way (8)

I believe the answer is:

ritually

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'italian union leader admitted to gathering in formal way' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'italian union leader admitted to gathering in' is the wordplay.
'italian' becomes 'it' (abbreviation for Italian).
'leader' suggests taking the first letters.
'admitted to' indicates putting letters inside.
'gathering' becomes 'rally' (rally is a kind of gathering).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
The first letter of 'union' is 'u'.
'u' placed into 'rally' is 'rually'.
'it' placed inside 'rually' is 'RITUALLY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for ritually that I've seen is " According to solemn ceremony".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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