About ten magnificent paintings - seven of which are authentic works by Caravaggio and the rest being attributed to the great master of realism - will be exhibited at the Museum of Archaeology in Republic Street, Valletta, between September and November.
The paintings are being brought over by Heritage Malta, the national heritage agency.
This is Heritage Malta's showcase in celebrating the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's coming to the island.
Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, arrived on the island in July 1607 and died in 1610, two years after leaving these shores.
Merisi is the name of a small town in Lombardy where Caravaggio was born in 1571.
His volatile temperament led to his involvement in a brawl in which a member of the Knights of the Order of St John - which at the time ruled the island - was seriously injured.
Caravaggio was imprisoned in Fort St Angelo in 1608.
The master of chiaroscuro, who had come to Malta when he was in trouble with the authorities in Rome, managed to escape and fled to Sicily, breaking one of the strictest rules of the Order, which was not to leave the island without the written permission of the Grand Master.
He died of fever in Porto Ercole on his way from Naples to Rome.
Heritage Malta is about to put together what it has described as "the biggest ever art exhibition" on the island so far.
"This is the second most impressive exhibition in two years, coming back to back with the Silent Warriors Terracotta Soldiers," Mario Cutajar, Heritage Malta head of visitor services and HR, said.
The paintings belong to various museums and private collectors from Malta, Italy and the US.
Contacts with museums and other international circles have been going on for months.
Maurizio Marini, an international authority on Caravaggio, was the main consultant for selecting the paintings from private collections, Mr Cutajar added.
For this prestigious project, Heritage Malta set up a scientific committee which included Sir Dennis Mahon and Claudio Strinati, who is Superintendent of the Sovrintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Romano.
"With this exhibition, Heritage Malta wants to prime an academic debate on Caravaggio.
"Caravaggio arrived here on July 1607 and like other painters of the time, he did not sign his works, except for The Beheading of St John the Baptist which hangs at the Oratory of St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta," Kenneth Gambin, head curator at Heritage Malta, said.
"Caravaggio had this intuitive ability to challenge the viewer with the blatant realism he recorded so magnificently in his works.
"He painted subjects he met in his daily life, sticking to the minutest detail to bring out the reality that the characters he portrayed were passing through.
"A second exhibition will be held at the Museum of Fine Arts in South Street, Valletta, where paintings by Caravaggist painters will be exhibited after being restored by Heritage Malta conservators.
"A third exhibition will include documents, coins and other artefacts connected to the realm of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt (1601-1622) to provide a context and a backdrop to the time Caravaggio spent here.
"Interpretation panels will assist viewers to pick up as many pieces as possible so that they will be able to form a mental snapshot of how life was during the first years of the 17th century," Mr Gambin said.
Caravaggio possessed this innate ability to provoke viewers and pull them into his paintings, to make them feel part of the intense drama being enacted.
"The splendid religious element will be one of the main aspects of the exhibition.
"Malta at the time was one of the capitals of European art and the island has this intimate connection with the superb painter.
"Caravaggio imbues such an intense fascination. He is a part of the Maltese identity," Mr Gambin said.