There is no word in italics which one is it in italics
This is a fragment - the sentence is incomplete, it lacks a main verb. It would be a complex sentence if it was finished, if it said - ...a concrete symbol that would provide the substance they needed to restore their shaken hope <em>presented itself to them, </em>or something along those lines. Since there is no such verb, the sentence is not finished.
Without a subject and a verb
