Yes, Sicily is Malta's closest neighbour, with Tunisia a bit further to the west, and Libya to the south.
B.t.w. speaking of geopgraphy, my Malta map doesn't have north to the north, so to speak. It is turned several degrees counter-clockwise for practical reasons. Plus the main island has been streched a bit.
The map is supposed to be balanced, although each starting position is very different from at least most of the others. It might also make the game very difficult if your expanding is too slow in the early phases. But hopefully this makes it more replayable. There's different strategies that will work in different starting positions.