Watch a Trailer for Netflix's Adaptation of 'The Decameron'

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"You are cordially invited to a wine-soaked sex romp set in the Italian countryside...." Netflix teases of its new show, The Decameron, coming this summer.

Per the streamer, "The Decameron is a soapy dark comedy that examines the all-too-timely theme of class struggles in the season of a pandemic. In the year 1348, the Black Death strikes hard in the city of Florence, and a handful of nobles retreat with their servants to a grand villa to wait out the plague with a lavish holiday. But as social rules wear thin, a scramble for survival ensues, brought to life by a cast of characters both cunning and outrageous."

In June 2024, Netflix dropped the first teaser trailer:

Here's everything we know about the upcoming show.

It's based on Giovanni Boccaccio's short story collection.

The Decameron, originally published in 1353, tells the tale of young Florentines who flee the city's Black Plague and spend ten days in a deserted villa. They pass the time by telling a story for the ten days they remain there. Per Penguin Classics, "Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than with earthly values, the tales range from the bawdy Peronella hiding her lover in a tub to Ser Cepperello, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint. The result is a towering monument of European literature and a masterpiece of imaginative narrative."

The book found renewed popularity in March 2020 with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. "The ten young storytellers who escape the city abstain from any sexual activity in order to tell their stories, including those that celebrate sex or warn about the dangerous or even lethal consequences of 'mad love,' jealousy and other forms of excessive erotic behavior," Massimo Riva, chair of Brown University’s Italian Studies Department, told T&C at the time. "Much of the Decameron, of course, is written tongue in cheek, and it is up to the reader to draw the lesson."

Creator and showrunner Kathleen Jordan adapted Boccacio's work for Netflix, explaining she thought of the book as "short little horny tales." However, she told Tudum that the project's genesis came from wanting to examine class struggles during a pandemic. "And when at times of crisis, the chasm between the haves and the have-nots grows wider and wider. Obviously, that’s something we’ve seen in the last few years, in particular with COVID," Jordan said.

The cast is stacked.

• Zosia Mamet as Pampinea

• Tony Hale as Sirisco

• Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Misia

• Tanya Reynolds as Licisca

• Jessica Plummer as Filomena

• Amar Chadha-Patel as Dioneo

• Leila Farzad as Stratilia

• Lou Gala as Neifile

• Karan Gill as Panfilo

• Douggie McMeekin as Tindaro

The Decameron will premiere July 25, 2025 on Netflix.

There will be eight episodes in the miniseries.

Watch on Netflix

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