The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word PALERMO
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
A
L
E
R
M
O
More clues leading to the result PALERMO
- Less colourful second city of Italy
- Port or beer in school dance with a twist at the end
- Pair consuming beer, two shakes and Italian port
- Duller month in Mediterranean city
- Capital of China — Rome, strangely?
- More faded, second city of Italy
- Friend comes to Rome rebuilt as capital
- Stake to run out, money invested as capital
- Chum has hesitation, wanting little time in Italian city
- Pearl queasy, going to doctor in island capital
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "capital" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case capital = palermo.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.