The territory of Racale was inhabited since ancient times, the remains of a specchia (among the best preserved of Salento) and the dolmen Ospina in the immediate surrounding countryside confirm that the area was populated almost certamante since the Bronze Age.

Populations messapiche, Greek and Roman succeeded over the centuries.

There are two hypotheses about the origin of the town and the name of Racale:

- From documents found some country may have Roman origins and was founded by Eraclio, the natural son of Caesar Augustus, to whom we owe the coat of arms of the city (the she-wolf suckling the twins, Romulus and Remus, according to the typical Roman symbology);

- Another theory suggests that in the place where it stands Racale, in Greek times, he was a site of worship dedicated to the hero of mythology, Heracles (Hercules).

Suffered the incursions and attacks at the hands of barbarians from the sea. In Norman experienced a period of prosperity and peace which resulted in the formation of a small town quadrangular. From this point in history there were various feudal families which owned it until the abolition of feudalism in 1806.

In the twelfth century, the house of Racale was given in fief by the Norman Tancredi, to the Bonsecolo.

Later it was a fief for over two hundred years of a branch of the noble family of the della Marra, whose main exponents were Pietro (1250), Risone II, Giovanotto de Marra, Riccardo. Last descendant of the branch was another Riccardo, who died in 1470, whose sons, Giovanni and Menga, not inherited any feud because already sold. It passed to the Tolomei, to Guevara, De Franchis and finally to the barons Basurto.

Was particularly significant for the history of the city of Racale, the earthquake of 1743 after which it was destroyed the ancient parish church of the twelfth century, then restored in 1756.

The town retains the imprint in the medieval narrow streets and straight.

Monuments of interest:

The baronial castle of Basurto: erected in 1500, which preserves the towers dating back to 1128, but subsequently amended;

Church of Our Lady of the River: built in the seventeenth century on the ruins of an ancient Basilian crypt;

the Mother Church, Santa Maria del Paradiso: was built in the eighteenth century and modified in the nineteenth century, which serves the vast ruins of the former temple frescoes of the sixteenth century and is home Malinconico of Catalano and Tiso.