The series was announced by Netflix in August 2022 as a show loosely inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century short-story collection The Decameron, created by showrunner Kathleen Jordan with Jenji Kohan serving as executive producer.

Although produced in the United States, the series was filmed entirely in Italy and features a multinational cast.

Michael Uppendahl was set to direct four of the eight episodes.

The main cast, including Zosia Mamet, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Tanya Reynolds, Amar Chadha-Patel, Leila Farzad, Lou Gala, Karan Gill, Tony Hale, Douggie McMeekin and Jessica Plummer, was announced in December 2022.

Filming began on January 10, 2023, with production planned to continue through June of that year.

The interiors of Villa Santa were built at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, occupying Stage 5 along with additional portions on Stages 4 and 11.

Additional on-location filming took place in the province of Viterbo, including the gardens of Castello Ruspoli, while the San Pellegrino quarter was used to represent 14th-century Florence by concealing modern features such as gutters, cables, windows, and flues.

Sets were designed by Luca Tranchino and costumes were designed by Gabriella Pescucci.