Shy retiring Italian in bustling centre (8)

I believe the answer is:

reticent

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'shy' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'retiring italian in bustling centre' is the wordplay.
'retiring' says the letters should be written backwards.
'italian' becomes 'it' (abbreviation for Italian).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'bustling centre' becomes 'recent' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'it' backwards is 'ti'.
'ti' going into 'recent' is 'RETICENT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for reticent that I've seen before include "Holding back" , "Quiet" , "Disinclined to speak" , "Reserved, retiring" , "Reserved, shy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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