The Decameron cover art

The Decameron

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Decameron

By: Giovanni Boccaccio
Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Gunnar Cauthery, Alison Pettitt, Daisy Badger, Carly Bawden, Lucy Briggs-Owen, full cast
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £30.99

Buy Now for £30.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio's answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante's Divine Comedy.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2008 Oxford University Press (Translation) (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooks
Classics Comedy Witty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Gargantua and Pantagruel cover art
The Divine Comedy cover art
The Red and the Black cover art
Metamorphoses cover art
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey cover art
Buddenbrooks cover art
Shakespeare's Pericles cover art
Goethe: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
The Man Without Qualities cover art
The Lays of Marie de France cover art
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People cover art
Shakespeare: The Complete Works cover art
The Good Soldier Svejk cover art
The Heart of the Conqueror cover art
The Thirty Years War cover art
Middlemarch cover art

What listeners say about The Decameron

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    43
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent production

First class. It is well produced and well read and maintained my interest to the end of the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book!

The story is perfect for our own pandemic. The stories are fun, lovely, dirty and poetic. They are so modern and dynamic. Great great book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

14th Century Fun

Simon-Russell Beale and a fantastic young cast bring the Decameron to vivid, raunchy, funny life, with beautiful, newly-arranged songs and real spirit. Uplifting and joyful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great insight into medieval values.

Great insight into medieval values, sometimes marred by a bit of a Benny Hill reading, where the narrator overemphasized anything "naughty'. Also the names were all mispronounced which may jarr with Italian speakers For some reason, poor people were generally given North English accents.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent rendition

Masterful reading by talented actors. An added pleasure to the book was the chanted rendition of the songs

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

4/5

Kind of repetitive after a while, but still manages to entertain. A classic for a reason.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Decades after being urged, at uni, to read The Decameron, I’ve noe finished listening to it and thinking I might doon reread it.
Prrhaps you, like me, will find echoes of Chaucer and of Skakespeare, of vice versa, in the book.

This is definitely a book for your Desert Island.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must for lovers of renaissance litterature

Lengthy but a classic and well worth the time. Well read and cheeky fun too!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent performances!

An engaging and energetic telling of the tales, well put together and competently acted. First class!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Depends on the narrator

The male narrator(s) do not know any Italian so he (they?) keep mispronouncing Italian names, which is very annoying. It is so easy to learn the rules for pronouncing Italian words so I really wish they prepare a little. It only takes a few hours of learning or asking someone who knows a little Italian. Really sad when male narrator speaks. The female narrator(s) was pretty good though!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful