Virgil, Tucidides, Strabo, Cassiodorus report the vast expanses of pines in the Sila.

[5] Geologically these mountains, which consist of granite, gneiss and mica schist, are the oldest portion of the Italian peninsula; their culminating point is the Botte Donato (6330 ft), and they are not free of snow until the late spring.

Rome began to extend its sphere of influence over Calabria, Sila included, to the extent that any outside rule affected these mountains.

[7] After the annexation to the Kingdom of Italy (late 19th century), Sila remained a base of brigandage.

In 1915, the British traveller Norman Douglas, author of the travelogue "Old Calabria", wrote about the Sila as "... a venerable granite plateau, which stood here when the proud Apennines were still dozing on the oozy bed of the ocean...".