The civic coat of arms of Melissano is marked by a blue background on which there is a bee surrounded by three carobs. There are no historical documents about the origins of this small town: it might have been built by some farmers of Taviano and Ugento, who after deforesting this area, decided to settle here with their families. According to an other hypothesis, instead, the first village was built in the X century by the people who had escaped from the invasion of the Saracens (who had razed to the ground the casali of Felline and Ugento). As far as the toponym is concerned it probably comes from "miele" (in English "honey") that was produced abundantly in the past,  or  from "melissa", a very diffused plant on the territory. The feudal age, in the Salento, started in the XII century, after the arrival of the Norman king Tancredi Of Altavilla, but the first certain news about Melissano date back to the beginning of the XIV century, when the feud belonged to Romeo Piex, that late sold it to the Del Balzos. In the XIV century, the centre was acquired by  Niccolò Amendolia that gave it to Minutolo Orso. Later Melissano was ruled by the De Capuas, the Braidas and    Girolamo De Franchis that, thanks to his  brother,  Bishop of Ugento, got the Marquisate. The last feudal vassals were the Caracciolos, that governed until  1806, year in which  the feudal regime was suppressed. It was first  frazione of Taviano and from 1885 of Castrano until  1922,  when it became a Commune. Among the most important native characters there are Luigi Corvaglia and Quintino Securo. The latter lived  in the XX century and he became a Customs officer. Suddenly he felt an impelling need of God and in 1961 he became a priest. The former lived between the XIX and the XX centuries and he was an esteemed writer and philosopher. He wrote a lot of works and he  died when he was 74 years old.