The station was opened on 20 May 1884, together with the rest of the long section of the Southern Tyrrhenian railway between
Reggio Calabria Lido (then named Reggio Calabria Succursale) and Villa San Giovanni. Soon afterwards, the construction company, the
Società Vittorio Emanuele, handed over the facility to the new
Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo (). The latter company eventually completed the Southern Tyrrhenian railway in 1895. In that year, the importance of the station grew significantly, because for travellers coming from Sicily it was more convenient to take a ferry straight to Villa San Giovanni than to travel, as before, via the port of Reggio Calabria. On 1 March 1905, the station was connected by a new short railway with the Villa ferry port. This development facilitated the introduction of ferry services carrying railway
rolling stock. As time went on, the importance of Villa San Giovanni gradually increased, to the detriment of Reggio Calabria, as the Tyrrhenian rail route to central and northern Italy was shorter than the alternative route via the
Jonica railway. Movement of rail traffic across the
Strait of Messina was also increased and strengthened by the introduction of Villesi cradles. The passenger building was built in 1937, as a project of architect
Roberto Narducci. ==Services==