Summonte was founded between the tenth and eleventh centuries, centered around the old fortifications of the location. The name came from its location at the foot of Mount Partenio. During the twelfth century, with the Norman conquest, it was a fiefdom under the Malerba family. In the first half of the fourteenth century, the last Malerba family member died without an heir, and it was passed on to the Leonessa family.