Scanno’s origins are still vague and obscure, even though Historic Notes track of a Roman consular road and findings of coins, since the village lies on a hill tombs, small idols of Hercules and epigraphs confirm its surrounded by higher mountains, existence since the Roman age, a fanciful tradition compares it.The origin of its name is uncertain too: since the village lies with a stool i.e. a Scanno on a hill surrounded by higher mountains, a fanciful tradition compares it with a stool i.e. a "Scanno". But Scamnum was a word indicating a boundary dividing the centuries where a piece of land, conquered by the Roman troops, was divided and allotted on freehold.

The most ancient document where, for the first time, Scanno is mentioned is an act of 1067 whereby Earls of Sangro donate to Montecassino the whole Lake Valley along with the S.Pietro in Lago Monastery which had been founded in 1017, nearby Villalago, by St.Domenic of Sora, and destroyed in the 16th century.Until the abolition of Feudalism, declared in 1806 by Joseph Bonaparte, the village was inferred to great southern families.During the Feudal dominion, the city-state (Comune), at that time called University, was organised by a yearly-elected government consisting of one Camerlengo, of three Bailiffs(Massari), called also Mayors, having the role of tax collectors, and of eight elected members (the present Counsellors).The Feudatory elected the master bailiff employed in the collection and a governor as his direct representative.
In the sixth-seventh centuries Scanno reached its maximum economic booming state thanks to the remarkable development of the arm industry which expanded in parallel with the woollen-cloths, the diary and the tanning of hides industries. By the end of the 16th century there was a patrimony of 130.000 sheep over a population of 2420 souls.The numerous manor-houses and the so many urban and rural churches (14 of them are still existing) embellishing the village, show the welfare achieved by Scanno’s inhabitants who also ran a Tavern for foreigners and travellers (17th century) and two hospices for the pilgrims and the sick.I such a flourishing agricultural, pastoral, and handicraft activity Scanno has not lacked illustrious citizens who have honoured it in the field of Sciences and Arts let us remember Giuseppe Tanturri (1823-1881), a medical doctor and the author of the History on Scanno, Msgr. Enrico Carfagnini (1823-1904), the Bishop of Gallipoli, Msgr. Giuseppe Celidonio (1852-1923) a famous historian; Msgr. Salvatore Rotolo (1881-1969) Bishop of Nazianzo and then of Altamura.