Archaeological traces trace the first human signs on the territory to the time of the Enotri. During the Roman era it became a resort, and on the territory arose several maritime villages. At the time of the Byzantines and Normans the coast was abandoned, and the old Scalea developed, protected by walls and with four gates, surmounted by a castle, originally a Lombard fortress, enlarged by Ruggero d'Altavilla around 1060.

Lorenzo Giustiani, an 18th century scholar, described the old town as follows:
«This city holds 4 gates, one is called the sea gate, the second is called the bridge gate, by an ancient bridge, where you see a piece of artillery; the third gate of Cimalonga, where there is a tower that serves today as a prison and the fourth gate of the fort. In the top you can see its ancient castle almost said with its ramparts and ditches and there is a piece of artillery that the old people of the country remember to be many. A few steps away from the sea gate, towards the north, at the top of a delightful hill, you can see an ancient tower called Judas, which was to serve as a mirror to the aforementioned castle. »

In the eighteenth century the city had only a small fraction, San Nicola (now San Nicola Arcella), because in the previous century Santa Domenica (now Santa Domenica Talao) had emancipated.

During World War II it was bombed. From the 60s' the few houses that make up the current old town were gradually abandoned and the inhabitants began to build new buildings occupying the area south of the original nucleus and this process continued until the 90s' when it took over the current physiognomy. From the new millennium was built the airport (still little used) and the municipal pool that came into operation in September 2012. Currently the realization of a port is in plan that according to the current plans would have to exploit part of the space in front of the Torre Talao. The current economy of Scalea is mainly based on summer tourism when the population even triples.