Fossils have been found in the capo di Fiume, now on display in the municipal paleontological museum where it shows what the environment of the Maiella was like 7 million years ago.

The municipal capital dates back to early Middle Ages when the town is a fief of Gualtieri, Orsini, Antonio Caldora, Matteo di Capua and D'Aquino.

The territory in the 11th century was divided into various villas, i.e. groups of pastoral houses: Castello Alberico (the current center), Pizzo Superiore e Inferiore, Castelcieco, Forca di Palena, San Cristinziano and Sant'Egidio.

In 930, the monk Giovanni da San Vincenzo al Volturno wrote in the Chronicon Vulturnense of the presence of the church of Santa Maria de Palena, together with a plot of land for the work of the population.

In the Catalogus Baronum Palena is mentioned as a large fortified village on the border with the Territory of Sulmonese and Chieti, strategically located towards the Fork Pass, which held the power of the small rural centers of Lettopalena, Gessopalena, Montenerodomo, Lama dei Peligni and Taranta Peligna.

In 1235, Friar Pietro da Morrone, aka Celestine V, went to hermitage on the Majella, at a cave on the Fork pass, on the border between Palena and Field of Jupiter.

A few years later on site, at the behest of Charles of Angiò a hermitage was built divided into a fortified building to house pilgrims, and a smaller one as a place of worship.

In 1915, Palena was connected by the line of the Sangritana Railway, with toll booth in an elevated position above the village, compared to the normal lower level station, for reasons of practicality.