In the district of Germaneto along the valley of Corach, a Greek necropolis of the fifth century BC and an ancient Roman settlement were found. Archaeological discoveries show that the municipality was active since the Iron Ages, flourishing with the populations of "Vitulo", so called because they worship the statue of the calf, which the Greeks renamed "Italoi" (worshipers of the calf), and governed by the famous Italian king of the same name, brother of Dardanus and ancestor of the Trojans. Italy gets its name from this figure.
According to another legend, Catanzaro was named after two Byzantine generals Cattaro and Zaro who led the coastal city of Magna Graecia Skilletion or Skillakion, corresponding to the Roman Scolacium (near Catanzaro's Marina), first on Zarapotamo (today Santa Maria di Catanzaro) and then later on Trivonà, a military fortress.
Catanzaro was always choice land due to its safe, high location, and the territory was under several groups' control, including the Saracens, Normans, and Venetians. The Saracens were the first to push the town's development to its highest regions by the second half of the ninth century. Byzantine general Nikephoros Phokas was responsible for the naming of the "Rock of Niceforo". Catanzaro's development into a fortress town was established by General Flagizio, who began the construction of a citadel, which later assumed the name of Katantzárion. According to some assumptions, the name is inspired from the development of workshops for creating silk, what the Greeks call "Katartarioi" (Καταρτάριοι) (spinners of silk).
At the beginning of the tenth century (circa 903), the Byzantine city was occupied by the Saracens, who founded an emirate and took the Arab name of قطنصار - QaTanSáar. An Arab presence is evidenced by findings at an eighth-century necropolis which had items with Arabic inscriptions.
Around the year 1050, Catanzaro rebelled against Saracen dominance and returned to a brief period of Byzantine control again. In 1069, Catanzaro was the last city in Calabria, after many months of resistance, to fall under siege by the Normans of Robert Guiscard, who built the Norman castle, still in existence today. During this era, arts and crafts pioneered, and particularly the processing of silk, which was traded with other regions in Italy, other countries and Eastern Europe.
In the 13th century, Emperor Frederick II made Catanzaro a direct possession of the crown. Later the city was the household feud of the Ruffo, Caraffa and Soriano families. The Normans elevated Catanzaro into a noble county, giving it to Peter Ruffo. The latter was lost in a struggle against Manfred of Sicily, but he later returned to the city, when Charles I of Anjou signed the peace of the War of the Vespers. For fourteen years, it was the royal domain of King Ladislao of Naples, and in 1420 it was returned again to Nicholas Ruffo, who gave it as part of a dowry for his daughter Enrichetta who was married to Antonio Centelles. After a rebellion by the rural people, King Alfonso V of Aragon took control of the city. In 1460 there was a war with the partisans of Centelles. When peace returned, the city was granted new privileges which greatly promoted the development of its silk industry, for which its damasks were known throughout Europe. From this time forward, Catanzaro firmly established itself as an import center for its textile productions.
In 1528 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor gave authorization for Catanzaro to bear the imperial eagle attached to a coat of arms depicting the hill tops of the town.
In 1970 Catanzaro was designated to be the capital of Calabria.
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