Colin Firth will star in helmer Michael Winterbottom's contempo ghost story GENOVA, set to shoot next spring, reports Variety.

Firth plays a recently widowed man who travels to Italy with his teenage daughters in search of a fresh start but can't escape the ghosts of his past.

Pic is co-financed by the U.K.'s Film4, with Hanway handling foreign sales.

Winterbottom is currently shooting "A Mighty Heart," starring Angelina Jolie, for Paramount Vantage.