Melissa is mentioned for the first time in 13th century documents. It was a fief of the de Micheli family (1463–66), Venetian nobles based in Calabria, of the Campitelli family (1485–1688) and, later, to the Pignatelli (1688–1806).
In 1949 it was the location of a massacre, when the police shot against the population, killing three people.