The circuit was designed in 1969, built between 1970 and 1972, and inaugurated that year with an initial length of 3.488 km. The facility was intentionally modest at opening, featuring only a small open pit area with few permanent structures. It occupied agricultural land on the fringes of Misano Adriatico, taking the name Santa Monica from the local frazione, and quickly established itself as a testing and racing venue for the Italian motorcycle and single-seater scene.
The circuit received its first significant overhaul in 1993, when the track length was extended to 4.064 km. That expansion enabled a dual-loop configuration, allowing events to run on either the long circuit or the original shorter loop. New pit garages and improved spectator facilities were constructed at the same time. Between 1996 and 2001 a further wave of investment added stands, additional pit boxes, and wider paddock space, edging the venue toward the infrastructure requirements of international championship events.
In 2005, a new access road to the complex — Via Daijiro Kato — was constructed and named in memory of the Japanese MotoGP rider killed during the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix, whose in-season home had been in the Portoverde frazione of Misano Adriatico.
The old Misano circuit hosted the San Marino motorcycle Grand Prix three times, from 1985 to 1987, as part of the FIM Motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship. Those events brought the circuit its highest international profile under the original layout. The Italian motorcycle Grand Prix also appeared on the calendar at Misano in 1980, 1982, 1984, and between 1989 and 1993, making the venue a recurring fixture in the world championship structure over more than a decade.
The 1993 Italian Grand Prix delivered one of the most dramatic and tragic moments in the circuit's history. Defending 500 cc World Champion Wayne Rainey fell during that race and suffered a broken spine, ending his career permanently.
Across its history under the pre-2006 layout the circuit also hosted car racing of considerable range. The European Formula Two Championship visited Misano in 1973 and then annually from 1975 to 1984, giving the circuit a long association with that category. FIA European Formula 3 events were held in 1980, 1981, and 1983. The European Touring Car Championship appeared in 1986. These dates established Santa Monica Misano as a regular stop for European single-seater and touring car series throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
The circuit was substantially rebuilt starting in 2006 specifically to meet the requirements needed to return to the MotoGP World Championship. The redesign reversed the direction of racing from counter-clockwise to clockwise, widened the track to 14 metres throughout, and brought the layout to 4.180 km. Safety infrastructure was upgraded to modern FIM standards. The new configuration held its first MotoGP round in 2007 — the San Marino and Rimini Riviera motorcycle Grand Prix, won by Ducati — and the venue has hosted world championship motorcycle rounds continuously since then.
The pre-2006 Misano circuit serves as the architectural foundation beneath the modern Misano World Circuit. Three San Marino Grands Prix, a sequence of Italian Grands Prix, and years of Formula Two and Formula Three racing gave the original layout a record of sustained international use. The circuit's location in the heart of the Adriatic Riviera, close to the motorsport culture of the Emilia-Romagna region, made it a natural home for top-level motorcycle racing long before the modern facility carried the name of Marco Simoncelli.