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The
origins of the town are oldest and partly obscure. "Sciclis"
is likely to have been the earliest town's name, back to the time
of the Siculi, a population that inhabited Sicily around the year
1.000 b.C., after a short installation in the region Lazio.
 The
primitive town rose on the to-day's called hill of "San Matteo",
where a necropolis, then covered with several layers of stone, is
well visible. Up there lay the ruins of an ancient castle and of
a triangular tower, likely meant as a defensive place against Hellenic
assaults.
Greek,
Roman and Carthago's tokens have been recovered on the territory.
Scicli was one of the 72 "decuman towns" (it had to pay,
as part of the Roman Province of Sicily, one part out of ten of
its harvest to Rome). Roman witnesses are noticeable by the mouth
of the Irminio river, where ruins of pavements have been brought
to light.
During
the Arabian occupation the town took the name "Sikia",
when, along with all the other "Arabian" towns, enjoyed
a period of extraordinary growth and development, so important to
be exalted for its economical prosperity by Arab historian Edrisi.
Several
occupations followed: the Normans, who introduced the feudal system;
Swabians, although still Scicli kept its status of city-state; French
and Spaniards (Anjou and Aragona dynasties), when Scicli was assigned
to the County of Modica, under the successive rule of Mosca, Chiaramonte,
Cabrera and Henriquez families.
In
1693, Scicli, as most other towns in Eastern Sicily, was almost
razed to ground in consequence of the by now famous earthquake.
In
1860, Scicli was the first town in Sicily to proclaim, through a
Plebiscite, its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy.
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