The name Fiumelatte, composed from fiume (Italian for "river") and latte ("milk"), is due to the milky white color of its water.

Leonardo da Vinci while staying in Lierna studied it for a long time and mentions it in his Atlantic Codex.

[1] One of the river's peculiarities is its annual intermittency: it usually dries in the middle of October to reappear in the second half of March; therefore it has been given the nickname Fiume delle due Madonne ("River of the two Madonnas"), alluding to the festivities of Annunciation (March 25) and Madonna del Rosario (October 7).

The river is mentioned by the name Fiumelaccio in Leonardo da Vinci's Atlantic Codex: It's the Fiumelaccio, which falls high from more than 100 ells from the vein where it is born, straight down on the lake, with inestimable uproar and noise.Other authors who wrote about the river include Pliny the Elder and Lazzaro Spallanzani.

The village of Fiumelatte has a nearby memorial dedicated to members of a partisan brigade shot on January 8, 1945, following the capture of Esino Lario.