According to legend, Kitzingen was founded when the Countess of Schwanberg lost her jeweled scarf while standing on the ramparts of her castle.

That Benedictine monastery, founded in the 8th century on the site of the present town of Kitzingen, defended the ford across the river Main.

In 1629, Prince-Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg of Würzburg took up his option to repurchase Kitzingen after the Peasants' Revolt in 1525.

Kitzingen's revival is credited to the wisdom of Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn of Würzburg, whose Edict of Toleration in 1650 encouraged the return of the expelled Protestants.

Tunnels were said to have been constructed by the Germans from the airfield out to the nearest highway, so that aircraft could be launched off the road to intercept allied planes.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s when the 2nd Brigade, Third Infantry Division was located there, private exploration companies offered to descend into those underground hangars and tunnels, but that idea was rejected for safety reasons.

The Kitzingen weather station has recorded the following extreme values:[3] The town's main landmark is the leaning Falterturm (portcullis tower), a remnant of the city fortifications built in the 13th century.

Due to the wrought iron gates with ornate decorations that include skulls and bats, US army troops stationed in the town after 1945 called this site the Grave of Dracula.

Out of this connection grew another urban legend which states that the golden ball atop the crooked Falterturm - which leans towards the grave - contains the heart of Vlad Dracula of Romania.

The four oldest churches in the city center were constructed atop the ruins of older sites of worship between the 15th to the 18th century.

A large riverside synagoge building, constructed in 1883, burned in 1938 and used as a prison detention center during World War II, has been restored in the 1990s and serves as a memorial and cultural space today.