Even today we do not know who were the founders of Maiori, the positions of the experts are varied and always in conflict, some cite the Greeks, some the Etruscans or the Romans, some the Prince of the Longobards Sicardo...The tradition that claims divine origins as set forward by Maja (Plinio and Ovidio), or even the mythical Hercules, supposed to have came ashore with his men at Erchie, does not help us greatly...

One certainty is that the original name was Reghinna "Major" to distinguish it from the nearby Reghinna Minor, and it is practically certain that the founding of Maiori and other centres on the coast followed the alternating vicissitudes of the indigenous population.
They were colonized first by the Etruscans around VII century, then by the Romans, they formed autonomous settlements after the fall of the Roman Empire of the West, and finally joined in the confederation of Amalfitan States, between 830 and 840...

The Maritime Republic of Amalfi (later to become a hereditary Dukedom) united under the silver shield with a red band, the ample territory between Lettere and Tramonti on the inland border, Cetara and Positano on the coast, and with the island of Capri and the surrounding sea, calling inhabitants of Amalfi all of those who were found within these boundaries.
United in diplomacy and military matters, every "Universitas"(installation) kept its proper name and had ample administrative autonomy, but also a specific role at the service of the sister cities:

Maiori was the mercantile heart of the new state, seat of the Greater Arsenals of the Admiralty, the Customs, and The Salt Warehouses.

Maiori and Ravello, that did not take part in the revolt escaped the terrible punishment...but not that caused by the city of Pisa who in June '135 laid waste to the entire coast with sword and fire. Two years later they returned and after the sack, they knocked down all the fortifications: destroying at Maiori the Bulwark of S.Sebastian and the castle of S.Angelo... finally dashing any hope of a revival.

In 1200 S.Maria "a Mare" was found washed up on the beach...
The next centuries passed darkly and slowly for the coastal territories: Maiori had paper factories, textile manufacturers, tanneries (in about 1424 a factory opened and the leather from Maiori in the XV century reached as far north as Germany) but it was the well furnished merchant fleet that helped to maintain the commercial trade of the town...that was however interrupted at regular intervals by wars: inaugurating the XVI century came the Angevins and the Spanish... After alternative vicissitudes the last mentioned prevailed and even if not famous for good government, they built roads and a defence system along the coast and in July '662 Filippo IV, named Maiori "Città Regia"...

In 1735, and again in 1773, violent floods hit the town; the people of Maiori attributed their safety to S.Maria a Mare, and every year the third Sunday of November they celebrate their Patroness... In 1860 the Reign of Italy was born. The expectations of the South were to have another disillusionment ... Some of the population decided to emigrate to America, others become brigands, the mountain Falerzio became a cove of outlaws; the "Grotto of Matteo Salese" (A brigand ) can still be seen.

On the night of the 8th September 1943 at Maiori (and at Salerno and Battipaglia) the operation "Avalanche" took place with the powerful allied landings; the march of national liberation passed through the Valley of Chiunzi...

On the 25th of October 1954 an exceptionally heavy flood hit the entire coast. At Maiori the river Reginna overflowed her banks in three successive waves, causing many deaths and the destruction of the higher part of the town and all the city centre...
The rebuilding has radically altered the look of the town; hotels and apartment buildings sprang up : the adventure of tourism had begun...