Sea between Italy and the Balkans (8)
I believe the answer is:
adriatic
'sea between italy and the balkans' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for adriatic that I've seen before include "Sea to the east of Italy" , "Part-Mediterranean" , "waves" , "Sea between Italy and Slav republics" , "Sea between Italy and Croatia" .)