The civic coat of arms of Sannicola has a red background in the upper part where there is a bunch of grapes while in the lower part there is a big cross. The first village was probably founded between the IX and the X centuries by the people who had escaped from the destruction of Collepasso, firstly called San Nicola. According to an other hypothesis the first centre was built in the XI century when the Basilian monks built the Abbey of St. Salvatore and the Abbey of St. Mauro. In this place, that was called Rodogallo, some people coming from the Casale  of Gallipoli arrived since their houses had been destroyed by the Venetians in the XV century.  In the XVIII century the "casini" (that were big and sumptuous noble villas with an fenced garden and a private chapel) were built. Some villages were built around these "casini" and were called San  Simone, Juri, Chiesanuova, Prandico, Cuti and Crocefisso, that  belonged to the County of Gallipoli. Sannicola was of these villages and it was called first San Nicola and then Villa San Nicola. It was finally called Sannicola for an orthographic mistake. In 1830 the population asked to the king Ferdinand to get the administrative autonomy. After three times, in 1908 Sannicola became a Commune thanks above all to a lawyer, Luigi Stajano, who became the first mayor of Sannicola. One of the most important local characters is  Achille Storace. He  lived between the XIX and the XX centuries and he was one of Mussolini's close collaborators. He played an important political role and he was imprisoned in the jail of Verona and shot in 1945. In his own small town he made  build an elementary school, the house of the fascio (that now is a place where people practise sport) and the Monumental Fountain.