ROCCAMONTEPIANO IN PROVINCIA DI CHIETI

The origins of Roccamontepiano are to be connected to a previous and somehow mythical urban nucleus called Balconia which had several castles belonging to the kings Pipino and  Trattullo.Before the formation of the urban centre, there existed three fiefs: Sant'Angelo, San Pietro and Pomaro.Pomaro is the present hamlet delimited by the Focaro hollow and by  the Alento river; this settlement of Longobard period was ruled later on by the Benedectines and destroyed afterwards by the village of Bucchianico, against which, in ancient times, the inhabitants of Pomaro felt a deep hate.The fief of

Sant'Angelo was destroyed by the landslide of 1765 and there are no historical information about.The fief of San Pietro is attested 

by the presence of its monastery (today a ruin).Several documents prove the presence of a fortified nucleus called "La Rocca" placed as a defence of the oriental side of Mount Majella and whose principal urban structures - especially churches and monasteries - appear to be completely functionning and attested during the 14th century and belonging to the jurisdiction of Montecassino.In documents of the 14th century the village is called "Rocca de Monte Plano" or "Rocce Montis Plani".Before the big landslide of 1765 the urban nucleus of the village consisted in a castle, the  Colonna castle, built on a rock above the village at whose feet the houses, the churches and monasteries, the nobiliar buildings (Corsignani, Valenza, Centurone, Corsi…) were closed by the town walls. In this period Roccamontepiano produced wheat, wine and olive oil and all its 2000 inhabitants were country people.