Hill town

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Castel del Monte, a little known Italian hill town, less than two hours from Rome, located in the Gran Sasso National Park

Hill towns, also referred to as citadel towns, are towns, particularly in Italy, which were built upon a hill for defensive purposes, usually surrounded by thick defensive walls, steep embankments, or cliffs. The hilltop settlements, which provided natural defenses for their earliest inhabitants, were fortified in the Middle Ages when earthworks and stone and wooden palisades were supplemented or replaced with massive stone and masonry walls, sturdy gates, and watch towers. In the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, even some of the smallest and most remote hill towns were adorned with churches housing works of art and impressive noble residences.

Italy's hill towns have been studied for the communities that inhabited them, as repositories of Medieval and Renaissance art, and for their architecture. The construction techniques used to build these hill towns have even been studied by seismologists to understand why their ancient masonry and stone structures often survive earthquakes that destroy nearby modern buildings.

San Gimignano, perhaps the most popular of Italian hill towns. This Tuscan town is usually crowded with tourists even in the off-season, with its towers and crowds, the hill town is sometimes called the Manhattan of Tuscany.

In the second half of the 20th century, many of Italy's lesser-known hill towns, especially those located outside Tuscany and Umbria, experienced steep population declines as their residents left for urban centres. In recent years, this trend has reversed with a deepening appreciation of Italian hill towns and interest in their preservation.

Other hill towns include the Sardinian town of Castelsardo and the Sicilian towns of Brolo, Castelmola, Cefalù, Geraci Siculo, Montalbano Elicona, Novara di Sicilia and Sperlinga.