The village is located in the Roveto Valley, south of Marsica, on the border with Lazio. It is divided into two parts: the old village, located on a hill at the foot of Mount Cornacchia and almost abandoned after the earthquake of 1915 with epicenter in Avezzano; the new part, built downstream along the highway 82. It is crossed by the river Liri and borders the national park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. 

In the Middle Ages it was called Vallis Soranae, because of its proximity to Sora, and appears mentioned in some historical and ecclesiastical documents since the tenth century, thanks to the frequent presence in the area of the Benedictine monks. 

In the eleventh century the Benedictine monastery of San Nicola or San Nicolao di Valle Sorana was a direct possession of the Abbey of Montecassino, so important to appear on the doors of its bronze door, built in 1065 by Abbot Desiderio.  In 1089 the Court of Auditors of the Marsi was established, so much so that the ancient centre became one of the administrative centres of the Marsican feudal domain.  From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, therefore, the history of Balsorano was identified with that of the Marsican counties.

After a series of families that succeeded to the control of the territory, Balsorano became an autonomous municipality in the early nineteenth century, following the aversion and suppression of feudalism.