We investigate a village perched high upon a ridge over the sea.

The villages were, though, perched not for aesthetic reasons but for defence.

The village perched high up on the cliff.

- a tiny village perched on a ledge beside a river.

The village perched high on a slope, in what was a mere terrace in a sweep of baking stone and scrub.

A short drive east is Walpi, a primitive village perched atop a steep cliff with farms at the base.

Here and there villages perched, huddles of stone huts, plastered with mud.

But our destination was Castiglione della Pescaia, about a half-hour's drive away, a village perched above a headland once guarded by the 15th-century fortress.

To the west of the road, small villages are perched atop hills, an Ethiopian Orthodox Church, octagonally shaped, often dominating the peak.

In 1881, it is described as; "A very small village perched on a high, steep hill, looking down on the valley to the north.