Rebuilt in a lower plain, that habitation was known as Fenice Moncada; the latter name derives from the family of the Princes of Paterno who owned the feud.
This habitation proved malarial and was heavily damaged by the 1693 Sicily earthquake, causing the spot to be  abandoned and named Malpasso, and the present town was founded in 1695 in lands belonging to the Duke of Montalto.