The director claims few people understood the meaning of previous title The Bop Decameron, and has changed the name to Nero Fiddled. Allen’s first shoot in Rome wrapped over the summer and will open in 2012.

“I couldn’t believe how few people had heard of The Decameron, even in Rome,” Allen said. “And the few that did assumed the movie was based on Boccaccio’s tales which it’s not.

“Anyhow, I changed the title to Nero Fiddled, which is the first time I’ve changed a title since my last-minute switch of Anhedonia to Annie Hall.”

Allen returns to the screen after an absence from Midnight In Paris, the $50m-plus smash that is his biggest unadjusted box office hit in North America.

The cast includes Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page.

Nero Fiddled is a Gravier Productions film produced by Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum and is Allen’s first feature to be financed by Medusa Film.