Though many of the hill towns were self-contained settlements, the province remained under the political and economic control of the cities and the Comunes, great princes and church officials, who managed them. especially in northern and central Italy. Each city-state founded its own satellite cities, to defend trade routes (be it sea or land) or functioned as military garrisons, where weapons and food were stored in case of war (or a popular uprising). At the beginning of the 13th century. Siena founded Monteriggioni, a fortified city on a hill on an important trade route from Rome to France, which also led through San Gimignano. For the same purpose, Emperor Frederick II (still quarreling with the papacy) built the fortified city of San Miniato. About the same period, in just ten years. Florence has established similar border posts in San Giovanni Valdarno. Scarperia and Firenzuolo Fewer cities arose in the south during the same period, partly because, that there were fewer large urban centers there: of the twenty-six thirteenth-century Italian cities with a population in excess of 20000 only three were to the south.
Towns on the hills have many things in common, regardless of the reasons for their foundation. They are almost always densely built-up, constructed from materials available in the immediate vicinity, which gives them the appearance of organically blended with the landscape. One or two simple house models are used, repeated an infinite number of times. An example of the rich effects obtained by duplicating a very simple type of household, in this case, the cubes, it is located off the northern coast of Sicily Stromboli. In most hill towns, houses are built right on the street, sometimes the door opens directly onto the road. This reflects the integral ties between the productive activities of the medieval household (on the ground floor) and down the street, which, in a sense, served as a shop. In general, many activities were carried out on the street then, as evidenced by the remains of public fountains and laundries, wells and communal furnaces. The streets of the medieval city were much more crowded than today; the houses had protruding wooden balconies, on which all kinds of food were dried and stored. Supports for these balconies (or holes, in which they were stuck) can still be found on the facades of many houses today.
As all, the hill towns still retain much of their medieval character. Te same cechy, which contributed to their defense and isolation, prevented later development and reconstruction. There are exceptions to this rule - at the end of the 15th century, the village of Corsignano near Montepulciano was transformed into a small Renaissance town of Pienza. to commemorate the birthplace of Pope Pius II. Overall though, there is little sign of planning or economic development in hilltop cities, which occurred in Italy in more modern times.