An ancient seaside resort of Roman high society, as evidenced by the discovery of a patrician villa dating back to the 1st century, it has today evolved into a popular tourist destination for its natural landscapes and its culinary tradition.

Below the flat area of the present urban center is a two-floor maritime Roman villa (of which only the lower part is preserved), dating back to the 1st century AD, and decorated with frescoes and mosaics.

[citation needed] According to an ancient local tradition, the first inhabited nucleus of Minori had developed in the northeastern hilly area of Forcella, which was abandoned at the time of the miraculous discovery of the body of Saint Trofimena on the underlying shores, in the 7th century.

The town was originally included in the autonomous Duchy of Naples (not directly subjected to the Eastern Roman Empire), extending along the coastal strip of Campania up to lower Lazio.

This period turned to be somewhat negative for Minori and its inhabitants, as the town was plagued by a profound economic crisis, due to political and administrative uncertainty as well as multiple natural disasters (mainly because of storm surges).

[citation needed] In September 1943, after Armistice with which Italy exited from the alliance with Nazi Germany in World War II, Minori was one of the locations involved in the so-called "Salerno landing", thanks to which the Allied forces entered the Tyrrhenian coast of the Italian peninsula in order to advance toward Rome.