A hill town (also hilltop town) is a type of a settlement built upon hills. Often protected by defensive walls, steep embankments, or cliffs, such hilltop settlements provided natural defenses for their inhabitants. The term "hill town" is occasionally a bit of misnomer, as some of these settlements are built on "pedestals" other than hills in the strict geographical sense.
In Europe, especially in Italy, Spain, Portugal and southern France, such towns were common. In Italy, hill towns comprised about half of the important towns in the Middle Ages. In many cases the Roman and medieval sites are now abandoned due to their remote locations, for example in the south of England. In parts of Italy (Tuscany and Umbria), however, most of the ancient hill towns are still populated, some becoming cities, like Siena.
