In the eleventh century, the Norman conquest of southern Italy brought disruption to settlement patterns. At the same time "casalia" begin appear in peninsular southern Italy. They were "interstitial" sites, located between walled villages and fortified towns, and being either undefended or protected by at most a ditch. The term "casale" was also used in Latin documents to refer to the small rural settlements of Islamic Sicily, called "manzil" or "raḥl" in Arabic.