A rock sculpture found near the Grotta del Rosario (Rosary Cave) suggests that the origins of the Contursi Terme settlement might date back to the Eneolithic period. According to some, the Contursi area might have been the home of the Ursentini, one of the tribes that made up the Lucanian people.
In Roman times, between Contursi and Campagna, there was a small town or perhaps just a collection of scattered dwellings called Saginara. Various remains of this settlement were discovered during the construction of the Salerno – Reggio Calabria highway. The Saginara settlement was destroyed by the Goths led by Alaric in 410 AD.
The political instability of that era, with continuous raids by invading peoples, convinced the surviving inhabitants to seek a safer place. According to some, these survivors founded both Campagna and the settlement that would become the town of Contursi Terme. Count Orso (who, according to the most credited hypotheses, gave his name to the town) founded Contursi in the year 840 AD, given its excellent strategic position at the entrance of the upper Sele Valley, to better defend the area from incursions by both the Normans and the Saracens stationed in Calabria.
The urban agglomeration was destroyed twice, first by the men of Louis of Anjou-Durazzo and the second time by Louis I of Hungary. Many feudal families held Contursi among their possessions, and among these, the Sanseverino family was the most notable, up until the time of the Marquises of Caggiano.
