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Mattinata is situated inside Gargano National Park, set on two hills and surrounded by olive groves and woodland and sprayed by the splendid sea of the Gargonic headland.
The town was established as a Roman port, known as “Matinum”, however the first settlement finds in the area date back to circa the V century B.C.
In Monte Saraceno, which borders the residential centre on its southern side, a necropolis was found containing 500 tombs built by the Dauni.
The history of the old town of Matinum relates to various dominations and the raids carried out by the Saracens on the Garganic headland, as well as the bloody battles that drove them away from the area by Otto I. The end of Matinum can be attributed to a raid carried out by the Saracens before their final departure from Mount Saracen. According to other studies, the ancient town was destroyed by a strong earthquake and a subsequent seaquake.
Mattinata was re-founded in 1780 and in the years that followed it was part of the Parthenopaean Republic and participated in the Carbonari movement. The allocation of a Royal Police Barracks in the town in 1887 led its people to request the status of municipality for the hamlet of Mattinata. It only achieved municipal independence in 1956.