Elice has been attested in the sources since the eleventh century. In 1051 the Benedictine monastery of S. Maria di Picciano had, by donation of Bernardo di Penne, son of Bernardo, a cell called S. Martino “in the castle of the subject”. In 1059 the Longobard brothers Tezzone and Adelberto sons of Berteramo donate the “relevance of the Ailice” to the Monastery of Santa Maria di Picciano. On 10 July 1084, in the castle of Loreto, Count Guglielmo Tassone donated the castle of Elice, with men, land, buildings and appurtenances, to the abbey of S. Giovanni in Venere. The castle, which in 1168 had 264 inhabitants, as possession of the Abbey of Santa Giovanni, was held by the soldier Guillelmo di Camarda; was confirmed on 16 June 1176 by the Pope and on 1 March 1195 by the Emperor Henry VI.
In 1279 he was a feudatory of Elice Govitosa di Raiano. In 1284, they were lords of the Castello Bertoldo and Pietro Stefano of Rome who, in that year, allowed the University of Elice to hold the market every Monday as long as it was not prejudicial to neighbors and to expenditure to the state.
In March 1292 the atrians, with French militias led by Matteo di Plexiac, simultaneously attacked Elice and Cellino. In 1316 Elice was owned by Ingardo di Rillana who also had the third part of Cellino. In 1388 it was a fief of Antonio Brunforte who had received it with the assent of Charles III of Durazzo.
At Penne it came for purchase made by the City in 1417 or 1418. In the hands of Giosia d’Acquaviva, on October 31st 1438 Queen Giovanna II ordered that it be returned to the City of Penne that had bought it from Petruzio de Rigerano.
In 1461 King Ferrante I of Aragon granted the brothers Baldassarre, Melchiorre, Gaspare and Agamennone Castiglione, and their heirs and successors, in perpetuum, the mere and mixed empire and criminal jurisdiction in their fiefs of Elice, Vestea and Castiglione.
The Castiglione family held in fief until 1806, when the subversive laws of feudalism were enacted.
In ancient times there was a renowned leather tannery in Elice, founded in 1819 by Tommasantonio Impacciatore, who extended his trade up to Dalmatia. Later Pietro Baroni, who was mayor of Elice until 1893, the year of his death, planted in the rooms of the castle a factory of terracotta and pottery.