Italian child leaving home with nothing shoots to eat (6)
I believe the answer is:
bamboo
'shoots to eat' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'italian child leaving home with nothing' is the wordplay.
'italian child' becomes 'bambino' (I've seen this before).
'leaving' is a deletion indicator.
'home' becomes 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in').
'with nothing' becomes 'o' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bambino' with 'in' taken away is 'bambo'.
'bambo'+'o'='BAMBOO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bamboo that I've seen before include "Giant tropical grass" , "Woody grass plant" , "stick" , "Treelike tropical grass" , "'Tall, rigid grass (6)'" .)