Study tragic female, a lady in Italy (8)
I believe the answer is:
contessa
'lady in italy' is the definition.
'contessa' can be an answer for 'lady' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'in italy' bit.
'study tragic female a' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'con' (I've seen this before).
'tragic female' becomes 'tess' (I have seen 'Hardy female' mean 'tess' so perhaps 'female' could also mean 'tess'. I am not sure about the 'tragic' bit.**).
'con'+'tess'+'a'='CONTESSA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for contessa that I've seen before include "European noble" , "noble foreign lady" , "foreign noblewoman" , "European noblewoman" , "High-ranking female" .)