The old city sits within a preserved set of ancient walls on the heights, while the beach at its base was developed into a modern shopping and leisure center known as the Scalea Marina.

Excavations of the caves beneath Torre Talao have unearthed Neanderthal bones and stone tools from the Paleolithic Era, and the surrounding Lao Valley also contains evidence of small Protohistoric, Bronze, and Iron Age (approximately 10,000-7,000 B.C.E.)

The city's main military gate sat at the top guarded by Gastaldo Fortress, which was later converted by the Normans into a castle, additional housing, and Piazza Cimalonga.

In the 8th century, Scalea was home to the Anacoreti, an order of Byzantine Greek monks who lived an ascetic lifestyle in the Scalicella caves beneath the city.

During the Norman era, Scalea hosted significant mercantile and seafaring activity, and by the beginning of the 15th century, it had become one of the most important maritime centers on the Mediterranean Sea.

Traders from all over Italy and even places as far as England converged on the port for abundant local goods such as wheat, figs, grapes, beans, onions, wine, and the fur and meat of rabbits, foxes, and wolves.

This sprawl continued until the 1990s, when Scalea undertook a renovation plan that included building a municipal airport, a swimming pool, and a modern port near Torre Talao.

38 people including the mayor of Scalea, five city councillors, and several municipal employees were arrested and charged with maintaining political ties to the 'Ndrangheta crime family.

Today, Scalea can be socioeconomically characterized as a subsidized consumer economy, in which the net inflow of external financial resources exceeds the productivity of the city.