In Roman times Arcola was a military deposit and a transit post, valuable to Rome in its wars against the Liguri for its strategic position. The Roman stronghold became a town in the Middle Ages, when Luni inhabitants started fleeing the malaria in the plains. The Normans and the Saracens repeatedly plundered Arcola before year 1000.

Around year 1000 many local masters alternated at the helm of the town; the population, however, was not always willing to accept them and riots were very frequent. Famous was the one when the Malaspina seized the town; defeated, many Arcola citizens were exiled to Sarzana, and were also forced to destroy their own houses. After this period of instability, Arcola went under the rule of the Genoa Republic in 1268.

Half a century later, Arcola was under the rule of Castruccio Castracani, and then of the Duke of Milan. After a brief period under the town of Lucca, in XV century Arcola was back in the dominions of the Genoa Republic. A period of peace and prosperity followed, but then the Spanish, the German and finally the French armies repeatedly sacked Arcola. After the fall of Napoleon and the Vienna Congress, Arcola became part of Regno di Sardegna, and thus of Regno d'Italia.