The Samnite fortress usually was a walled citadel on a mountain top and series of terraced walls descending to the plain, and typically used huge blocks called megaliths. With the establishment of the Greek colonies, there is a rise of the typical acropolis, a a long walled settlement with towers, as it was in Poseidonia. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the population abandoned the large Roman towns and took refuge to the highest mountain tops that could better be defended.
The Lombard Dukedom of Benevento, facing the early Saracen raids from the sea, started a heavy fortifications of boroughs and a great many sighting towers and military outposts were built all over the region. The Normans starting from the 11th century introduced the French model, a central large tower where the feudal lord also had his living quarters. Then the Anjou and Aragonese brought the architecture of castle construction to sophisticated levels.
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