Every so often, green coral is found on the Italian coast (5)
I believe the answer is:
genoa
'found on the italian coast' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'every so often green coral' is the wordplay.
'every so often' indicates alternate letters.
'green'+'coral'='greencoral'
The alternate letters of 'greencoral' are 'GENOA'.
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for genoa that I've seen before include "City of Italy" , "Italian city has no age, oddly" , "Type of rich fruit cake" , "NW Italian sea port" , "Cake type; foresail" .)