North Italy’s top honour for weeping mother (5)
I believe the answer is:
niobe
'weeping mother' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'north italy's top honour' is the wordplay.
'top' says to take the initial letters.
'honour' becomes 'OBE' (Order of the British Empire award).
The initial letters of 'north italys' is 'ni'.
'ni'+'obe'='NIOBE'
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for niobe that I've seen before include "woman of sorrows" , "She cried" , "Mother, her children slaughtered" , "Weeping woman" , "she wept for her children" .)