The name Zingaro, which means "Gypsy", was given to the San Vito Cape as a way to describe its inhabitants, the itinerant shepherds who roamed the highlands and the equally transient fishermen who spent much of their lives out to sea. Few important towns developed here; instead there grew up bagli, habitations of a multi-functioning farm. Farmers would grow wheat and olives for the production of oil, which had medicinal and other uses beyond the culinary ones exploited today. Baglio Cusenza, within the confines of the Zingaro reserve, was one of the most important farm settlements in the region. It was abandoned in the 1960s, but today the former dwellings may be reached by trail. Scopello, a picturesque village just outside the southern border of the park, was assembled from a baglio, a fishing camp (tonnara) and several medieval watchtowers.

Great feudal estates dominated the area for many centuries, until the early 1800s. Life was extremely hard for the ordinary peasant, who as slaves to the land had to cultivate up to 90% of their land for their overlord. The end of serfdom did not really change things for the peasant, however, who labored on much as before. The dissolution of the old estates did however bring some new elements to the region: namely brigands, thieves and mafiosi. In 1862 an insurrection witnessed bands of peasants and shepherds burning down the homes of noblemen (who continued to exert control over the region) and murdering several of these same nobles. At the same time the rugged mountains and coast of the Zingaro played host to Pasquale Turriciano and his band of brigands. Turriciano and his men were highly regarded by Zingaro natives; their inaccessibility only added to the intrigue. On the highest point of Spàracio Mountain one can still find Turriciano's Table, a rectangle rock from which the brigands could observe the movements of those below who were trying to reach and capture them. In the first decades of the 20th century, the "king of Montelepre" Salvatore Giuliano, made the Zingaro his stomping ground. Later the American gangster Frank Mannino took refuge in the Grotta dell"Uzzo (cave). His wife found work in Scopello, allowing her to make the occasional visit to her beloved - much to the chagrin of Mannino's men, whose women were elsewhere. All these ghosts are a part of the Zingaro, though the park's intoxicating natural beauty may hide some of the more sordid details.

In the early years of the 20th century some economic advances were made in the region, when Castellammare become a military port. In the 1960s Scopello was "discovered" by a group of young English intellectuals. Soon after a school for ceramics in the Zingaro style was founded, followed by another specializing in the weaving of the Nana palm. The ancient artistic traditions of the region are kept alive by these important institutions. Tourism also began to take root during this period, though the region had long been recognized for its natural beauty. In 1802 the Bourbon king Ferdinand I created a royal hunting preserve that included the Zingaro and the village of Scopello, though unfortunately laws passed by the kingdom of Italy in 1877 allowed for much of that ancient forest to be destroyed. It wasn't until 1981 that the reserve was created, after a nationwide protest blocked the construction of a road from Scopello to Castellammare.
Today the towns of San Vito Lo Capo, Castellammare, and the village of Scopello are well equipped with hotels, restaurants and guiding services. The Zingaro, forever poor and sparsely populated, now prospers as a popular travel destination.