To escape, he picked hotel in Italy: couple turned up (7)
I believe the answer is:
houdini
'to escape he picked' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'hotel in italy couple turned up' is the wordplay.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'italy' becomes 'i'.
'couple' becomes 'duo' (two people).
'turned up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'in'+'i'+'duo'='iniduo'
'iniduo' reversed gives 'oudini'.
'h'+'oudini'='HOUDINI'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for houdini that I've seen before include "Escape artist, d. 1926" , "World-famous escapologist" , "Harry -, US escapologist" , "Harry was famous as an escape artist" , "Harry . . . . . . ., famed American escapologist" .)