The authors agree that this surname is of toponymic origin and derives from the Lombard word sala, which designated a manor house, a country house or a rural settlement. Over time it became a surname. R. Brondolo adds that, at its origin, the name corresponded to one who lived in an ancient Lombard settlement. The edict of King Rothari of 643 —the code of the Lombard laws— documents these meanings; the wide diffusion of the place name sala makes it impossible to identify a single line of origin for the families that bear this surname.

The surname is present throughout Italy, with a greater concentration in Lombardy. E. De Felice highlights that, for Milan and upper Lombardy, the most relevant place names are Sala al Barro and Sala Comacina, in the Como area. E. Rossoni observes that the surname seems proper to the central-western part of northern Italy, although he also records a zone in western Sicily, and notes that the variant Della Sala is characteristic of Avellino and its province. He further mentions other place names of possible origin: Sala Biellese, in the Biella area; Sala Monferrato, in the Alessandria area; and Salaparuta, in the Trapani area.

E. De Stefani contributes that in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, specifically in Forni di Sotto, in the Carnia, the Sala families are documented from at least the end of the 15th century. He adds that the Lombard word sala appears in numerous place names of Friuli, as in Buja and in Treppo Grande, in the Udine area. He also notes that the form Salon, with an augmentative suffix and of the same etymon, functions as a sibling surname of Sala.