A date of definite reference to establish the existence of the settlement of Melissano is March 1269 when, by the Angevin registers there was a ruling in favor of the feudal lord of Melissano, Romeo Pez (o Per) of Navarre, against his vassals who refuse to pay him the fee.

The settlement existed before, certainly in the Swabian period, when Melissano probably belonged to such a Iordani Sicecte. The territory was interested in Roman times by some rural settlements, including the likely Vicus Civo site in the district which in the past has presented even more ancient human remains as a specchia and flints piromache;

The name is Civo local memory for the presence of the ancient abbey Italo-Greek, already attested in 1120 when he was buried in the abbey church Giliberto, the constable of Count Goffredo di Nardò. Disappearance of the Basilian monastic community, the abbey fell into commendation in the fifteenth century, but remained strong devotion of the people of the neighboring countries, so that gathered on March 25 of each year before the remains of the abbey church. The ruins were eliminated a few decades ago.

Other settlements are intercepted Spagnuli sites in the district and in the district Stigliani Trappeto la Grotta, the site due to a small settlement from the Bronze Age.

The name Melissano, according to many historians indicate the Roman presence in the area, while according to other scholars date back to the Byzantine era, especially following the Renovatio of Basilio I in the late ninth century, thanks to the settlers from Eraclea sul Ponto (whence the name Racale) and with the presence on the territory of the Byzantine strategist Melisio.

Melissano appears in medieval documents of the fourteenth century, while the settlement was depopulated in the early years of the fifteenth century because of the continuous struggles within the kingdom of Naples, in particular the descent of Giacomo Caldora with his company, with the clear intention to punish the Del Balzo.

Melissano passed to the De Franchis that already had already Taviano. Up to 1723 the De Franchis were able to see grow Melissano with the presence of various court houses and farms (masserie) in the surrounding area which has since undergone a massive conversion from vineyard with olive trees, well suited to the new type of extensive cultivation.

In the seventeenth century the danger was still strongly felt turkish

In 1850 there was a first attempt to request for self-government, but was rejected by the extreme misery of the inhabitants.

In 1861, the year of the proclamation of the kingdom of Italy, there were riots against the newborn Kingdom of Sardinia: the climax was reached July 27, 1863, when he was killed the priest Don Marino Manco, because of his liberal ideas.

On February 24, 1869, the melissanesi were able to witness a miraculous event: a small statue of the Immaculate Virgin, during a terrible storm, he wept and the storm ended, and since then, every year, we celebrate Our Lady of the Miracle in the country.

Since 2003 Melissano boasts the prestigious title of city.

[www.comune.melissano.le.it]