The Italian king is kind (3)
I believe the answer is:
ilk
'is kind' is the definition.
(ilk can mean a type or kind)
'the italian king' is the wordplay.
'the italian' becomes 'il' (Italian for 'the').
'king' becomes 'K' (abbreviation for king in chess).
'il'+'k'='ILK'
(Other definitions for ilk that I've seen before include "Description" , "A kind of person" , "Of that kind or sort" , "Like" , "Of that kind in Kilkenny" .)