The town may have been founded by colonists from an unknown site in ancient Magna Grecia, but there is currently no documentary or archeological evidence to support this.

The name Pizzo (translated either as bird's beak or projecting point) fits perfectly with the tuffa promontory that juts out into the sea near the mouth of the river Angitola.

Despite fading in importance over time this activity continued until the 1970s in the Centofontane area, where nets were spread to corral tuna from offshore.

The former King of Naples Joachim Murat, who was the brother-in-law of Napoleon, was imprisoned for several days in the town's Aragonese castle and then sentenced to death.

He was executed by firing squad on October 13, 1815, in the main hall of the castle and was possibly buried in the church of San Giorgio.