If the higher part of the territory of Roccamontepiano has conditioned the life of its inhabitants all over the years, assuring them water and protection from external attacks, favouring the establishment of places of worship, sanctuaries and monasteries, granted areas for impregnable settlements, the valley has represented the main economic source for its population. The zone surrounding Terranova, has always granted the essential agriculture activity thanks to its lands, more fertile and productive, and to its less slugged slopes; it has been essential for the life of its population for the system of activities connected to it. Evidences of this can be found in the G. Lisio Museum, in Terranova, the livestock trail (tratturo), The Peasant's Arts Museum, in Pomaro and in the lost Monastery of St. Cross.

1. Giuseppe di Lisio Museum of Terranova

Opened on March 21, 2009, in the rooms of the new building erected on the old seat of the palace that has host the Municipality of Roccamontepiano from 1776 till 1927, the museum represents the crowning of a project proposed and started by the lawyer Giovanni Legnini, Major of Roccamontepiano at that time, and now Vice President of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The project is aimed to re-evaluate the art of weaving, a craft local reality, today disappeared, through the creation of a permanent laboratory which re-proposes the steps of this art, from the production of the fibres, to the spinning, the weaving and the dyeing. The museum could be dedicated only to Giuseppe Lisio (1870-1943), authentic inhabitant of Roccamontepiano, obliged to leave the village when he was a child, to follow his father Giuliano, who was looking for a job in Rome; engaging himself with determination and inventiveness he become "Mastro Lisio", the Weaver Maestro, "weaver of all the colours", as a friend of his, Gabriele Dannunzio, used to define him. He has revolutionised the art of weaving (especially the silk), the machineries, the manufacturing taking inspiration from the high art of the Renaissance. Moreover, the art of weaving was not totally ignored by Giuseppe and his family, at the contrary it was well known to them and to all the inhabitants of Roccamontepiano in 800, even if not in its high levels. They grew the textile fibres, such as linen and hemp, reared silkworms, and a loom was in each house of the colony. The weaving art was connected to agriculture, well known by Maria, one of the aunts of Giuseppe, which worked as weaver in Rome where she directed an atelier in the centre, in via Monte Caprino 11, near the Campidoglio.

2. The livestock trail (Tratturo)

Since the ancient time, the municipal territory of Roccamontepiano has been crossed by the piedmont livestock trail Centurelle-Montesecco, important fork of the main livestock trail Aquila-Foggia, from the mountain of Abruzzo to the tableland of Tavoliere delle Puglie. Coming down from the mountains of l'Aquila, going past the river Pescara, near Torre dei Passeri, it runs alongside the right shore of the same river, going toward the inland, near Ponte D'Alba. It crossed so, the territory of Roccamontepiano going down to the shores between Casalincontrada e Serramonacesca. Passing on the river Alento, crossing Terranova and Cerrone, it reached S. Eufemia, in the territory of Fara Filorum Petri. From here it continued its way toward Guardiagrele, Orsogna, Cupello till Montenero di Bisaccia. Such livestock trail has been active till the eve of the 2nd World War, and today can be observed just in some sections.

3.The Peasant's Arts Museum of Pomaro

The seat of the museum is inside the Holiday farm centre Hostaria di Pomaro, in rooms bought and opportunely restored by the Municipality. Here, since 1883, Antonio Legnini had built an oil mill for the grinding of olives (1772) which has been opened till after 1945. In the museum there are carpets, utensils, rural tools, before familiar and commonly used, today, unfortunately, ignored by the most of people. It is not by chance that Pomaro is the seat of this structure, in fact the explanation of it is to be found in the same etymology of the toponym; "Pomaro" comes from the Latin "pomarium" that means a place rich in agricultural products ("pomi").

4. Monastery of St. Cross

Not only did the Benedectine friars know agriculture and all the activities linked to it, but they were veritable experts. In the rural zones they diffused their deep knowledge, in particular the monks of St. Liberator of Serramonacesca, together with those of the Monastery of St. Cross of Roccamontepiano of which, unfortunately, there are not evident traces on the territory because the rests of the edifice were swept away during the landslide of June 24, 1765. Its existence, moreover, is incontrovertible because there are many detailed documentary sources that prove it. The monastery was built in locality St. Cross, in the north part of the present Via dell'Edera, in the second decade of XIV century, inside the process of expansion of Roccamontepiano, carried on by the disciples of the Pope Celestine. They started with the construction of the church, ended in 1312, and than between 1314 and 1317, they edified also the monastery, with its typical vegetable garden, for will of the most loyal disciple of Peter del Morrone, Robert of Salle. Between 1320 and 1350 it knew an important development due to the presence of Robert of Salle, and to his miracles because he extended his properties to the nearby villages, increasing also the numbers of friars. Then, because of a dispute with the Theatine Bishop, a crisis spread in the Order and in the monastery, in which, in 1618 there were just two monks, obliged to leave the unsafe edifice, and to move to the Church of Our Lady of Graces. The landslide of 1765 ended the destruction of the building. The Celestine monks, branch of the Benedectine Order, following a model of life based on the high moral rigour, wore rough habits and hair shirts: a white tunic and a black cowl. That is the reason why they were named the "grey monks".