The area around San Ferdinando is within the borders of the historic town of Rosarno, which along with the town of Nicotera is the area of the ancient Greek city of Medma. Present day Rosarno and its environs sprung up during the Byzantine Era and appeared for the first time in history in a document in 1037. The rule of Rosarno was greatly contested, due to its strategic importance in giving a hold over of the fertile Mesima River valley and was controlled by various feudal lords, including the Ruffo and the Pignatelli families. Situated along the sea, San Ferdinando was a planned community to support a major public works project of the early 19th Century to transform the malaria-ridden Mesima valley into a commercial agricultural town. Following the five major 1783 Calabrian earthquakes, the Mesima River Valley and the Rosarno plain were said to have sunk nearly a meter creating significant shifts in water flow and the creation of lakes and swamps. This change in the geology and ecology of the area provided for an environment for malaria to breed. The earthquakes and subsequent malaria epidemic resulted in upwards of 50,000 deaths in the region and is said to have halved the population by the start of the 19th Century. This cataclysm left no passable roads and the destruction of a majority of the buildings in the area.