Decameron

Giovanni Boccaccio

49 episodes listed below

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Medieval wit with a sharpened grin.

The gist

Decameron is a serialized classic-literature listen built around formal storytelling, sharp reversals, and medieval social comedy. Recent episodes move through stolen pigs, gullible friends, scheming lovers, priests, judges, songs, and the ritual order of the Decameron's days.

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About Decameron

Decameron is a serialized audio presentation of Boccaccio's medieval tale cycle, delivered through public-domain readings rather than modern dramatization. Its surface is ceremonious. Its plots are anything but tame. Recent episodes move through Day Seven and Day Eight, where storytellers trade accounts of lovers, priests, tricksters, fools, and households under pressure. The frame matters: queens appoint speakers, companions praise or laugh at a tale, songs follow dinner, and the company pauses its storytelling for sacred days. That ritual order gives the mischief a polished edge. Inside it, the stories are full of reversals. Calandrino becomes a favorite target, first chasing a supposed stone that grants invisibility, then losing a pig and being pressured into buying silence. Bruno and Bufalmaco thrive on performance, pushing his panic until the joke becomes almost procedural. Elsewhere, Gulfardo answers a mercenary proposition with a neat financial trap. Belcolore spars with a priest in a story that treats desire, leverage, and household bargaining as comic weapons. Judges and notaries are mocked for smallness and pretension. Friends compete secretly for the same woman, and even the afterlife becomes material for a joke about earthly appetite. The prose is dense, rhythmic, and antique. The situations are immediate: embarrassment, lust, greed, suspicion, debt, reputation, and the dread of being exposed at home. This is classic literature with a sharp social grin, less museum piece than chain of cunning little traps. It rewards patience with period language, especially for listeners who like stories where moral order is unstable and wit is the strongest currency. The recordings preserve the shape of the text, including its elaborate openings and closures, while letting each tale land as a compact episode of human folly.

Made for: For listeners who enjoy classic literature, ornate older prose, and comic tales of schemes, appetite, and social embarrassment. It especially suits those who like medieval storytelling without needing it modernized.

What sets it apart: The show keeps the Decameron's formal storytelling frame intact while letting the bawdy reversals and trickster logic carry the momentum. Its contrast between courtly narration and earthy plots gives it a distinctive charge.

In their own words

The Decameron, subtitled Prencipe Galeotto, is a captivating collection of 100 novellas by the renowned Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. Likely begun in 1350 and completed by 1353, this medieval masterpiece is celebrated for its rich tapestry of love stories that range from the erotic to the tragic. Its influence is undeniable, with many great writers, including Shakespeare and Chaucer, drawing inspiration from its bawdy and thought-provoking tales. (from Wikipedia)

Why you'd press play

Jealous husbands set traps, and you get the pleasure of watching clever wives reset them.

Press play if you want

  • old-fashioned storytelling where romantic deception becomes an elaborate tactical sport
  • wives who outmaneuver suspicious husbands with disguises, decoys, and excellent nerve
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
medieval trickster comedycourtly storytelling ritualsmarital deceptionclerical hypocrisycomic paybacksongs and day conclusionsmoney and bargaining

Talks about

Best episodes of Decameron

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

091 - Day 8 The Fourth StoryApr 17, 2026

A sly courtship tale where wit, appetite, and secrecy do most of the work.

Day Eight's fourth Decameron story plays like a comic courtship built on polished speech, careful consent, and the awkward work of keeping a secret.

090 - Day 8 The Third StoryApr 16, 2026

A comic prank turns on Calandrino's certainty, Bruno and Bufalmaco's patience, and the promise of an invisible stone.

This comic turn follows Calandrino as he talks himself into believing that a stone from the Mugnone will make him invisible and, by extension, rich.

084 - Day 7 The Ninth StoryApr 10, 2026

A private complaint turns into a public bit of revenge, and the room laughs.

The story turns a private annoyance into a clean little act of revenge. Nicostratus keeps slipping off at first light for the fields and his hawking, and the lady answers by killing the sparrow-hawk he values most. She does not hide the reason.

Podcasts like Decameron

Episodes

  1. 1

    093 - Day 8 The Sixth Story

    This episode features a humorous story about Calandrino, Bruno, and Bufalmaco involving a stolen pig and trickery, framed within a broader context of promoting actuarial careers.

    Apr 19, 2026·16m
  2. 2

    092 - Day 8 The Fifth Story

    This episode features a Librivox recording of Day 8, The Fifth Story from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, where three young men play a prank on a judge from the marshes during court proceedings.

    Apr 18, 2026·8m
  3. 3

    091 - Day 8 The Fourth Story

    Hidden gem

    This episode presents the fourth story from Day 8 of Boccaccio's Decameron, where a rector of Fiesole pursues a widow who doesn't love him, leading to a humorous situation involving mistaken identity with her maid.

    Apr 17, 2026·12m
  4. 4

    090 - Day 8 The Third Story

    Hidden gem

    Decameron, Day 8, The Third Story follows Calandrino, Bruno, Bufalmacco, and Maso del Saggio through a prank built around a heliotrope stone near the Mugnone in Florence.

    Apr 16, 2026·23m·1 clip
  5. 5

    089 - Day 8 The Second Story

    This episode presents the second story from Day Eight of Boccaccio's Decameron, where a priest engages in a humorous exchange with Mona Belcolore involving a cloak and mortar as pledges.

    Apr 15, 2026·15m
  6. 6

    088 - Day 8 The First Story

    Apr 14, 2026·8m
  7. 7

    086 - Day 7 Conclusion

    Apr 12, 2026·7m
  8. 8

    085 - Day 7 The Tenth Story

    Apr 11, 2026·9m
  9. 9

    084 - Day 7 The Ninth Story

    Hidden gem

    Decameron Day 7, Ninth Story follows Lydia, Nicostratus, and Pyrrhus in Argos as a servant tests a wife's devotion with three demands.

    Apr 10, 2026·28m·1 clip
  10. 10

    083 - Day 7 The Eighth Story

    Hidden gem

    In Decameron, episode 083, Naphil tells of Mona Sismonda, whose husband Ariguccio Berlinghieri becomes jealous of her connection with Ruberto.

    Apr 9, 2026·22m·1 clip
  11. 11

    082 - Day 7 The Seventh Story

    Apr 8, 2026·15m
  12. 12

    081 - Day 7 The Sixth Story

    Apr 7, 2026·13m
  13. 13

    080 - Day 7 The Fifth Story

    Hidden gem

    Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Day 7 The Fifth Story” follows a wealthy merchant in Rimini who confines his wife because of jealousy despite her innocence.

    Apr 6, 2026·20m·1 clip
  14. 14

    079 - Day 7 The Fourth Story

    Apr 5, 2026·11m
  15. 15

    078 - Day 7 The Third Story

    Apr 4, 2026·15m
  16. 16

    077 - Day 7 The Second Story

    Apr 3, 2026·11m
  17. 17

    076 - Day 7 The First Story

    Apr 2, 2026·10m
  18. 18

    075 - Day 7 Introduction

    Apr 1, 2026·4m
  19. 19

    074 - Day 6 Conclusion

    Mar 31, 2026·16m
  20. 20

    073 - Day 6 The Tenth Story

    Mar 30, 2026·20m
  21. 21

    072 - Day 6 The Ninth Story

    Mar 29, 2026·6m
  22. 22

    071 - Day 6 The Eighth Story

    Mar 28, 2026·4m
  23. 23

    070 - Day 6 The Seventh Story

    Mar 27, 2026·7m
  24. 24

    069 - Day 6 The Sixth Story

    Mar 26, 2026·6m
  25. 25

    068 - Day 6 The Fifth Story

    Mar 25, 2026·6m
  26. 26

    067 - Day 6 The Fourth Story

    Mar 24, 2026·7m
  27. 27

    066 - Day 6 The Third Story

    Mar 23, 2026·5m
  28. 28

    065 - Day 6 The Second Story

    Mar 22, 2026·12m
  29. 29

    064 - Day 6 The First Story

    Mar 21, 2026·4m
  30. 30

    063 - Day 6 Introduction

    Mar 20, 2026·6m
  31. 31

    062 - Day 5 Conclusion

    Mar 19, 2026·7m
  32. 32

    061 - Day 5 The Tenth Story

    This is a LibriVox recording of Day 5, The Tenth Story from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, translated by J.

    Mar 18, 2026·20m
  33. 33

    060 - Day 5 The Ninth Story

    Mar 17, 2026·17m
  34. 34

    059 - Day 5 The Eighth Story

    Mar 16, 2026·15m
  35. 35

    058 - Day 5 The Seventh Story

    Mar 15, 2026·17m
  36. 36

    057 - Day 5 The Sixth Story

    Mar 14, 2026·19m
  37. 37

    056 - Day 5 The Fifth Story

    Mar 13, 2026·16m
  38. 38

    055 - Day 5 The Fourth Story

    Mar 12, 2026·12m
  39. 39

    054 - Day 5 The Third Story

    Mar 11, 2026·19m
  40. 40

    053 - Day 5 The Second Story

    Mar 10, 2026·14m
  41. 41

    052 - Day 5 The First Story

    This episode presents the first story from Day Five of Boccaccio's Decameron, where love transforms a character named Chimon into wisdom and leads to romantic adventures involving capture, marriage, and escape.

    Mar 9, 2026·30m
  42. 42

    051 - Day 5 Introduction

    Mar 8, 2026·3m
  43. 43

    050 - Day 4 Conclusion

    Mar 7, 2026·7m
  44. 44

    049 - Day 4 The Tenth Story

    This episode presents the tenth story from Day Four of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, a medieval Italian collection of tales, focusing on a humorous misadventure involving a leech's wife, her lover, and a stolen chest.

    Mar 6, 2026·21m
  45. 45

    048 - Day 4 The Ninth Story

    Mar 5, 2026·8m
  46. 46

    047 - Day 4 The Eighth Story

    Mar 4, 2026·15m
  47. 47

    046 - Day 4 The Seventh Story

    Mar 3, 2026·10m
  48. 48

    045 - Day 4 The Sixth Story

    Mar 2, 2026·20m
  49. 49

    044 - Day 4 The Fifth Story

    Mar 1, 2026·10m