Amalfi or Verona?

Amalfi has the better swimming, though it is pebble rather than sand. Marina Grande sits under the Duomo steps and fills with beach-club loungers in summer. The real pleasures are a walk or a short boat ride away: Atrani's small beach, the coves at Santa Croce and Duoglio, and rocks and grottoes you can only reach by hired boat.

Verona has no sea, so swimming means a half-hour trip to the south shore of Lake Garda. There you will find lidos, grassy lawns and Sirmione's flat limestone shelves, with calm, tide-free water through the summer. It makes a pleasant day out, but you can't have a quick dip between other plans.

Verona offers more to eat and drink. Risotto made with Amarone, bigoli with duck, bollito misto with pearà and pastissada are served in wood-panelled osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta. Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are all made within a short drive, so an evening glass at a counter is part of the visit.

Amalfi's cooking is narrower but more maritime: scialatielli with clams, anchovies with Cetara's colatura, and lemon in everything from cakes to limoncello. In such a small town, the good trattorias have to be sought out in the alleys, away from the seafront tables.

Verona is in another league here. Inside the loop of the Adige it layers a Roman amphitheatre and theatre, the Scaliger tombs, Romanesque San Zeno, Gothic Sant'Anastasia and the art collection at Castelvecchio, enough for two or three full days.

Amalfi's heritage belongs to its days as a maritime republic: the striped Duomo with its Constantinople bronze doors, the Chiostro del Paradiso, the old Arsenale and the paper museum. It is striking, but most visitors finish it in a morning.

Neither town suits clubbers, but Verona at least has evenings that run on. The aperitivo fills Piazza delle Erbe and the riverside, and Veronetta's student wine bars and pubs stay busy later. In summer, the crowd leaving the opera keeps the centre alive near midnight.

Amalfi's nights end with dinner and a gelato on Piazza Duomo. Once the last ferries and buses leave, the town goes quiet.

Amalfi's landscape is the stronger draw. The Lattari mountains plunge into the sea, the Valle delle Ferriere gorge starts at the back of town, and the Path of the Gods runs high above Positano. Kayaks explore the sea caves below.

Verona's outdoors is gentler and more spread out: vineyard walks and cycling in Valpolicella, the Adige cycle route, and the Lessinia plateau. The more dramatic setting is an hour away at Lake Garda, with Monte Baldo's ridges and the windsurfing at the northern end.

Both towns make excellent bases, but the trips are of different kinds. From Amalfi it is coast and antiquity: Ravello up the hill, Positano and Capri by ferry, and Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum with some planning. Ferries are seasonal and the cliff road is slow in summer.

From Verona the rail line does the work all year. Venice is about an hour away, Vicenza, Padua and Mantua are closer, and the Garda towns and Soave's walls make easy half-days.

Verona is much the easier choice with children. Its flat, largely pedestrian centre works with a pushchair, and the Arena tends to impress children. Gardaland, the water parks and the Parco Natura Viva safari zoo are all within about half an hour, though you will need a car or transfer to reach them.

Amalfi has nothing built for children, and its stairways, crowded pebble beach and winding buses are hard work with toddlers. Older children who swim confidently are the exception. They will love the boat trips and sea caves.

You can walk both centres, but Verona's is flat and largely free of traffic, with Castelvecchio, the Arena and Veronetta minutes apart. Trains make onward journeys simple, though Valpolicella and Lessinia are easier by car.

In Amalfi, everything is up and down steps. Its blue buses and seasonal ferries make it the coast's hub, but in summer the buses fill up, the single cliff road jams and parking is hard to find. This is a real obstacle for anyone with limited mobility.

Verona has more proper shopping. The marble-paved Via Mazzini is lined with Italian fashion labels, and boutiques, jewellers and shoe shops fill Corso Porta Borsari. Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro are the best things to take home.

Amalfi is more about craft than fashion. Look for handmade cotton paper from the valley mills, painted majolica and made-to-measure sandals, but expect the same limoncello and lemon soap in shop after shop.

Verona is noticeably easier on the budget, though it is not cheap. Central hotels are expensive and soar on opera nights and during trade fairs, but student osterie, wine counters and a centre you can walk keep daily spending sensible.

Amalfi is among the dearest places to stay in Italy. Sea-view rooms, loungers, boat hire and piazza meals all cost a lot. Only the buses are a bargain, and staying in the hill villages or coming out of season reduces the cost without making it cheap.

Opera in the Roman Arena gives Verona the edge. Grand Verdi and Puccini productions play to thousands on the ancient tiers through the summer. The Teatro Filarmonico season and the summer festival of Shakespeare, dance and jazz in the Roman theatre add more.

Amalfi has no theatre of its own. Its big night out is the Ravello Festival, with concerts on the Villa Rufolo terrace above the sea. It is an unforgettable setting, but the season is short.

Warm springs are what Amalfi lacks and the country around Verona has. On the coast there is no bathing tradition at all, and the spas belong to the luxury hotels built into the cliffs, which keep them mostly for their own guests. Rest comes instead from shaded terrace lunches and early swims from the rocks, and the calm moves up to the hill hamlets or into May and October when the centre fills in high summer.

Around Verona, the water itself does the restoring. Sirmione's sulphurous thermal pools look out over Lake Garda, a warm spring-fed lake sits in an old villa garden near Lazise, and the springs at Caldiero have been used since Roman times. Back in town, the terraces of the Giardino Giusti and an evening stroll by the Adige keep the pace gentle.