An Upper Paleolithic Ax made out of serpentinite, and some cremation graves from the Iron Age are the only prehistoric traces discovered in Massagno.

During the 9th and 10th centuries, the Cathedral of S. Lorenzo in Lugano seems to have owned individual farms and houses in the village, and in 1198 it was the main landholder.

In 1262 the hospital of St. Mary of Lugano acquired some estates as well, which were sold in 1739 to the Luvini family in Massagno.

Then, in the 14th century, the Bishop of Como acquired the right to tithe in Massagno and land in Gerso.

It was built by a member of the Solari family from Gerso, who had made his fortune in the wool trade in Venice.

Between 1879 and 1880 an excavation for a railway line led to strong population growth as workers (especially from Italy) migrated to Massagno for work.

[3] Massagno has an area, as of 2009[update], of 0.74 square kilometers (0.29 sq mi).

It consists of the village of Massagno the settlement of Gerso and, since 1804, part of the former municipality of Rovello.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a chestnut three vert fructed gules a core and eradicated or issuant from a mount of the second in chief a sun in splendor and in base of the first two line invected argent.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][16] Massagno is in close proximity to the SBB station Lugano on the Gotthard axis, which leads through the Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened in 2018, and thus on its main axis Zurich – Milan.

Rail service of the Ceneri Base Tunnel started on 4 September 2020 and was operationalised for freight in December 2020.

[17][18] The tunnel improves the connection of Lugano (and therefore also of Massagno) by local trains to the cities of Bellinzona and Locarno significantly.

The travel time between Locarno and Lugano is reduced by the new tunnel from 55 to 22 minutes.

[19] It is planned to fill the "trincea" (ditch), where the railway tracks run before the northern entrance to Lugano station and which cuts through the territory of the municipality of Massagno, and to create a park on the resulting area.

[20] Massagno is located directly on the slip road Lugano-South to the Swiss Highway 2 (Gotthard route) from Basel to Milan.

The railway was electrified from the outset; it was replaced by a bus line of the public transport operator Autolinee Regionali Luganesi (ARL) in 1967.

[23] In the 2007[update] Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 3,098 registered voters in Massagno, of which 1,892 or 61.1% voted.

[27] In 2015 the average cantonal, municipal and church tax rate in the municipality for a couple with two children making SFr 80,000 was 2.2% while the rate for a single person making SFr 150,000 was 14.9%.

[30] From the 2000 census[update], 3,837 or 69.0% were Roman Catholic, while 362 or 6.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education.

The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields.