Many Italians could be Spanish (9)

I believe the answer is:

castilian

'spanish' is the definition.
(I know that Castilian is a type of spanish)

'many italians could be' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'c' (C is the Roman numeral for 100).
'could be' is an anagram indicator.
'italians' anagrammed gives 'astilian'.
'c'+'astilian'='CASTILIAN'

(Another definition for castilian that I've seen is " Spaniard".)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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