Malta will serve as the backdrop for an Italian feature film being shot this year, after its producers shifted the film’s action from Milan to take advantage of the island’s natural beauty.

The new film is an adaptation of E l’angelo partì da lei (Then the angel left her), a novel by bestselling Milanese author Pino Farinotti, who also wrote the screenplay together with director Claudio Malaponti. It is scheduled for a European release in 2016, with a budget of €3.4m.

Although the novel originally takes place in Milan, the director and producers opted to relocate the story to Malta following a meeting with the Malta Tourism Authority and the Malta Film Commission last October.

In the new version, protagonist Vanni, an architect, moves to Malta on an 18-month employment contract.

“In Valletta there is everything: the school for little Massimo, the right streets and squares, the cathedral and the hospital, the shops and the necessary facilities,” Malaponti told Italian newspaper Libertà.

“Eventually we realised that the magnificent scenery of the island, the sun, the sea and all the rest, was an added value that took nothing away from the identity of the story.”

The move results in part from the participation of the Fondazzjoni Temi Zammit in EuroScreen, a European project led by Film London, through which it has worked to attract the attention of film producers scouting for new locations.

Jesmond Xuereb, the executive secretary, said the film could potentially have a strong impact on tourism, given that the locations chosen show off some of the best the island has to offer.

The film has already been covered in various Italian publications and will eventually be promoted around Italy and Europe.

“The efforts that are being made recently to attract films to Malta are an incentive to local crews and companies to produce films on a regular basis,” Mr Xuereb said.

Foreign films shot in Malta currently benefit from a cash rebate of up to 25 per cent, with an additional two per cent if the film depicts Malta as itself.

The Danish film All Inclusive, also set in Malta, opened to very positive reviews in Denmark last month, while Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s By the Sea, filmed in Gozo last summer, is due for release later this year.