Scorțeni is surrounded by the Sub-Carpathian hills, close to the 45th parallel north, at an altitude of approximately 350 m (1,150 ft).

Around 1540, Radu Paisie, the ruler of Muntenia province of those times, set up a monastery at the confluence between the rivers Mislei and Telega.

This is an old settlement whose inhabitants have dealt with timber cut and transportation, ever since the 15th century.

Downstream Mislea River to the Est, there are the communes Scorțeni and the villages Sârca and Bordeni where the ruler Michael the Brave is said to have appropriated four of his captains, at the end of the 16th century.

During the first part of the Communist period, Mislea was the site of a penitentiary for female political prisoners.