Whence it’s a very short distance to the heart of the land? (5)

I believe the answer is:

milan

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'whence it's a very' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'short distance to the heart of the land?' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'distance' becomes 'mile'.
'to the heart of' indicates the central letters.
The middle of 'land' is 'an'.
'mile' with its final letter taken off is 'mil'.
'mil'+'an'='MILAN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for milan that I've seen before include "North Italian city" , "N. Italian city" , "Italian city with La Scala opera house" , "Northern Italian city" , "province" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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