Villapiana is a town in the province of Cosenza. This town, located on the first rock that limits the plain of Sibari to the north-east and defends its inhabitants from the torrential fury of Satanasso, has undergone the historical events of Magna Graecia. It was called Leutermia, a name it kept until the 9th century, when it was destroyed by Saracen raids. In fact, around 850 the Arabs, taking advantage of the Lombard discord, plunged back into Calabria and destroyed many cities including Blanda, Cirella and Leutermia.

Rebuilt, the village took the name of Casalnuovo (only in 1863 it acquired the new name Villapiana) and was part of the Duchy of Benevento undergoing Lombard and Byzantine domination, until the arrival of the Normans, when its strictly feudal period began. The remains of the castle still bear witness to this period, where the feudal lords who succeeded the government of the small town found their home. In the 16th century, the lords of Casalnuovo were the Sanseverinos of Salerno. In that period, by order of Charles V, a defensive tower was built in the territory of Casalnuovo. In 1551, however, Marco Antonio Sanseverino had the Capuchin convent built, not far from the inhabited center, consisting of eleven cells with an adjoining small church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The Sanseverino family was succeeded in the seventeenth century by that of the Pignatelli, dukes of Bellisguardo, distinct from the branch of the Marquis of Cerchiara di Calabria and princes of Nola. The family of the Dukes of Bellisguardo died out with Margherita, who married the Marquis of Cerchiara, Diego Pignatelli and thus unified the administration of the Casalnuovo fiefdom with that of Cerchiara. The Pignatelli heirs kept the property until the subversion of feudalism. At the time of the Neapolitan Republic, general Championnet, in charge of proceeding with the administrative order of the state, included Casalnuovo in the canton of Tursi, department of Crati. The French, by the law of January 19, 1807, made it a place in the so-called government of Cassano. With the reorganization prepared by decree dated 4 May 1811, establishing the Municipalities and Districts, it was included among the first and assigned to the District of Amendolara. Due to the new structure given to the region by the Bourbon law on May 1st 1816, it was transferred to the district of Cerchiara. It assumed its current name with the decree of 4 January 1863.