Oscar-winning actor-director Roberto Benigni will be awarded with an honorary degree in literature from the University of Malta in April, the university announced on Weddnesday.
Organizers of the event said the ceremony will be staged in the Maltese capital's historic Jesuit Church and that big TV screens would be set up in key locations to broadcast the event.
The Tuscan comic recently wowed TV audiences with a show combining a mix of classic stand-up humour, political satire and a passionate reading from Dante's Divine Comedy.
Even Dante Alighieri scholars were been impressed by his unorthodox approach to the masterpiece, praising the Tuscan comic's grasp of the symbolism and references in the chosen section of the Divine Comedy, which is the most lauded work of Italian literature.
Malta is in range to receive Italian TV broadcasts
Benigni shot to international fame in 1999 with his Holocaust movie Life Is Beautiful, which he wrote, starred in and directed.
The picture won three Oscars, for best foreign film, best actor and best music, and Benigni's exuberant clowning at the Academy Picture award ceremony won him fans around the world.
