The Fremantle Corp. and Italy’s DeAngelis Production & Distribution have finalized plans to coproduce a 12-hour miniseries, The Merchant of Flowers, for Italian broadcaster MediaSet.

The project, to shoot in Italy and elsewhere internationally from early 2010, is the first in a joint slate of programming from the Canuck producer and DAP that includes a 22-episode order for a classic western-theme TV series to be shot mainly in Vancouver.

Merchant of Flowers, based on a crime thriller by Italian writer Diego Cugia, portrays a young newlywed caught in the world of human trafficking as her husband attempts a rescue. Fremantle holds the international rights. The coproducers are now assembling the budget and cast.