The settlement was mentioned already in the 14th century. Initially a village owned by the Kniehiniecki family, it later became property of the Buczacki family. Michał Buczacki, voivode of Podolia, erected a castle there in the 15th century and founded the first Catholic parish. Even though Pidhaitsi (Ukr.: Podhajce) still did not have a town charter (it was officially granted town rights only in 1539, while owned by the Wolski family), it was referred to in documents as a town. Subsequently, as a result of a sale, ownership of Pidhaitsi went to Stanisław Golski, a Ruthenian voivode. Golski built an impressive castle in the town; it was spared during the Tatar raids, but it did not protect the town from destruction.

Pidhaitsi had to be reinstated as a town. In 1634 Zofia Golska, sister-in-law of Stanisław, sponsored construction of a church, ruins of which are still today part of the town. There were four nationalities residing in Podhajce at the time: Ruthenians to the north of the marketplace, Poles in the eastern quarter of the town, Jews in the southern quarter and Armenians in the western quarter. Armenians did not stayed in Pidhaitsi for very long; already in the 18th century there is no more mention of their presence.

In 1641 Pidhaitsi became property of the Potocki family. The golden era in the town’s history falls at the very beginning of the Potockis’ ownership, the time of Stanisław Rewera Potocki, the Grand Hetman of the Crown, voivode of Bratslav and Podolia. He extended the local castle and surrounded the town with fortified walls so effectively, that it succeeded in fending off the siege of Tatars in 1655. Hetman’s wife, Anna Mohylanka, founded a Russian Orthodox Church built in a defensive style. Stanisław Rewera Potocki died in Pidhaitsi in 1667 and was buried at the local church, in a chapel which would become the Potocki family mausoleum. Unfortunately, only the external wall of the chapel remains today. Inside there are fragments of various epitaph plaques from the 19th century. There are no remnants left of the Hetman’s tombstone.

One year after Stanisław Rewera Potocki’s death Jan Sobieski defeated the dominating Tatar-Cossack army headed by Krym Girej and Hetman Piotr Doroszenko. A peace treaty was signed at the Pidhaitsi church with both the Tatars, who deemed themselves allies of the Polish Commonwealth, and with Doroszenko’s Cossacks, who acknowledged the Polish king’s authority. Victory in the battle of Pidhaitsi gave Sobieski the mace of the Grand Hetman of the Crown.

The second battle of Pidhaitsi took place in 1698. In order to forestall Polish attack on Moldova, Turkey sent the Tatar army to Podolia. The then owner of Pidhaitsi, Szczęsny Potocki, Field Hetman of the Crown, managed to defend the town and forced the Tatars to retreat (even though the army he had at his disposal was much smaller, similarly to Sobieski’s army, than the army of his enemy). It was the last Polish-Tatar battle in the history of the Polish Commonwealth.

In 1772 Pidhaitsi became part of Austria. After the Potockis had left, the Belskis and the Worcells owned the town; in mid-19th century it was owned by Count Aleksander Romuald Czartoryski. His wife, Countess Marcelina de domo Radziwiłł was a well-known philanthropist who sponsored orphanages and schools for children from the villages in the vicinity of Pidhaitsi. She was also privately known as a distinguished pianist, pupil of Fryderyk Chopin; she was considered the best interpreter of Chopin’s musical oeuvre. Her Pidhaitsi salon was famed for concerts of Chopin’s music.

In 1867 Pidhaitsi became the seat of a county, and in 1909 it was connected by railway with Lviv. In the second half of the 19th century and until the outbreak of the Second World War the town was famous for its livestock, horse and pig markets.  In 1887 there was a 4-grade all-male school employing 7 teachers, and a hospital which housed 60 beds.

The First World War caused substantial damage to the town. There were battles here also during the Polish-Ukrainian war for the supremacy over Galicia. Stepan Bandera’s father-in-law was killed during one of these battles and was buried at the local cemetery.

Before the outbreak of the Second World War the town totaled 7 thousand residents, half of which were Jewish. Pidhaitsi was the county capital within the Tarnopol Voivodeship. Jan Łomnicki, a distinguished film director and screenwriter, author of the films Dom (Home) and Jeszcze tylko ten las (Just Beyond This Forest) and his brother Tadeusz Łomnicki, the unforgettable colonel Michał Wołodyjowski in Pan Wołodyjowski and in Potop (The Deluge).

After the end of the Second World War Pidhaitsi was an abandoned town. Local Jews perished in the Holocaust, and the vast majority of Poles were forced to leave the town. Their place was taken over by Ukrainians and Lemkos resettled here from Poland.