The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word MODENA
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
M
O
D
E
N
A
More clues leading to the result MODENA
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "part of Italy" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case part of italy = modena.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.