Trace art back to the Italian (5)
I believe the answer is:
trail
'trace' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'art back to the italian' is the wordplay.
'back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'to the italian' becomes 'il' ('the' in Italian).
'art' backwards is 'tra'.
'tra'+'il'='TRAIL'
(Other definitions for trail that I've seen before include "Need to catch up with" , "Rural footpath" , "Fall behind" , "Get behind" , "Drag behind" .)