Amalfi or Rome?

Amalfi has the sea right at the edge of town. From the old town you step straight onto Marina Grande, a pebble beach lined with beach-club loungers. Atrani and coves like Santa Croce are a short walk or boat ride away, the water is clear, and a hired boat takes you to rocks and grottoes the road never reaches.

Rome's sea is a train ride away at Ostia or Fregene, with dark volcanic sand mostly divided into paid lidos, warm in summer but rarely clear. It makes a half-day escape from the heat rather than part of daily life. In Amalfi, a swim fits easily between lunch and an afternoon walk.

Rome eats far better. Its own cuisine of carbonara, cacio e pepe, Jewish-style artichokes and the offal dishes of Testaccio is served in neighbourhood trattorias across Trastevere, Monti and Testaccio, with pizza al taglio and supplì for lunch on the move.

Amalfi's cooking is narrower and tied to the coast: lemons, anchovies, colatura from Cetara and scialatielli with seafood, with limoncello to finish. It can be very good in the back alleys and up the valley. But the tables on the piazza and seafront are often average, and a week there offers little variety.

The gap here is huge. Rome packs the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, the Borghese and Baroque churches hung with Caravaggios into one centre. That is enough to fill a week and still leave much unseen.

Amalfi's heritage comes from its medieval maritime republic: the striped Duomo with its bronze doors cast in Constantinople, the Chiostro del Paradiso, the old Arsenale and the paper museum up the valley. It makes a fine half-day, and then the coast takes over.

Rome is not known for clubbing, but it has evenings worth going out for. There is aperitivo in the piazzas, Trastevere's crowded lanes of wine bars, cocktail bars in Monti, cheap student drinking in San Lorenzo, and a small club scene in Testaccio and Ostiense.

Amalfi's evening is dinner followed by a gelato or a nightcap on Piazza Duomo, and the town goes quiet once the last ferries and buses leave. For anything more than a late glass you would have to go to Salerno or Naples.

Amalfi is the place for landscape. The Lattari mountains fall almost straight into the sea and the Valle delle Ferriere gorge starts behind the town. Mule stairways climb to Pontone and Ravello, and the Sentiero degli Dei above Positano is one of Europe's great coastal walks. Kayaks and small boats reach sea caves such as the Emerald Grotto.

Rome's green is gentler and takes more effort to reach. There are villa parks like Villa Borghese and Villa Pamphili, a bike ride along the Appian Way, crater lakes in the Alban Hills, and the Apennines about ninety minutes away. Both are best outdoors in spring and autumn, because summer heat is hard on exposed trails and midday walks alike.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in what lies around them. Amalfi's trips are coastal and scenic: Ravello's villa gardens up the hill, Positano by ferry, Capri in season, and with some planning Paestum's Greek temples, Pompeii or Herculaneum. Ferries run mainly from spring to autumn, and the coast road gets jammed in summer.

Rome reaches further and deeper into history, helped by its trains. Ostia Antica and Tivoli are close, there are Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia and Cerveteri, and Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio lie to the north. Florence and Naples are about ninety minutes away by high-speed train.

With children, Rome is the easier choice, though not an easy one. Villa Borghese has the Bioparco zoo, rowing boats and room to run, and there is a children's museum near Piazza del Popolo. Gladiators, catacombs and daily pizza help keep children interested in the ancient sights.

Amalfi has no attractions made for children. Its steep stairways make pushchairs useless, the pebble beach is crowded, and the winding buses can make small children carsick. It works better for older children who swim well and will enjoy boat trips and sea caves.

Rome's centre is made for walking, from the Colosseum past the Pantheon and Piazza Navona to Trastevere. The metro barely enters the core but does reach the Vatican, Termini and the Spanish Steps, and buses and trams fill the gaps when traffic allows.

Amalfi itself is tiny and easy to walk, but going anywhere beyond it means crowded summer buses, seasonal ferries and a single cliff road. Neither is kind to tired feet, Rome because of its cobbles and Amalfi because of its stairs. The stairs make Amalfi much harder going for anyone with limited mobility.

Rome has real shopping. The big fashion houses line Via Condotti and the streets around the Spanish Steps, Via del Corso has the chains, and Monti has independent boutiques and vintage. There are antiques around Via dei Coronari and a huge Sunday market at Porta Portese.

Amalfi has one main street of limoncello, ceramics and lemon soap, with much of the stock repeated from shop to shop. Its best buys are local and specific: handmade cotton paper from the valley mills, painted majolica and sandals made to measure.

Neither is cheap, but Rome is easier on a budget. Its rooms are costly and the big sights charge entry, but standing espresso, pizza al taglio, free drinking fountains and churches full of art keep daily spending down.

Amalfi's rooms are among the most expensive in Italy, especially sea-view rooms in summer, and meals on the piazza, beach loungers and boat hire add up. The local buses are good value, and staying in the hill villages in spring or autumn helps. Even so, the bill stays high.

Rome has a proper season. The Teatro dell'Opera stages opera and ballet in winter and moves outdoors to the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla in summer. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, and there are also jazz clubs and organ concerts in churches.

Amalfi has no theatre or concert hall. Its big musical occasion is the summer Ravello Festival, held in the gardens of Villa Rufolo up the hill, and the setting makes it an evening few venues can match. The town's own feast of Sant'Andrea brings processions and band music.

Neither city has a living bathing culture, but Rome comes closer. The sulphur pools of Bagni di Tivoli are nearby, the free hot springs around Viterbo are about ninety minutes away, and the city has hotel spas and hammam-style day spas. The centre is noisy, but the villa gardens and the Aventine are quiet.

Amalfi's spas are in luxury hotels built into the cliffs and are mostly for their own guests. Its calm comes from slow lunches, swims off the rocks and early mornings. In July and August the centre loses that calm, and you have to go up to the hill hamlets to find it.