Assisi or Bergamo?

Neither town is anywhere near the sea, but Bergamo is the better of the two for a swim. Assisi's nearest water is Lake Trasimeno, about 45 minutes away, where the lido beaches have warm but shallow and rather cloudy water.

From Bergamo, Lake Iseo and the Lecco arm of Lake Como are both an easy drive. They offer proper lidos and grassy or pebbly shores at places like Sarnico and Lovere, which make a cooling day out in July.

Both towns eat what their hills produce, but Bergamo gives you more choice. Assisi's cooking is rustic Umbrian: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, grilled meats and torta al testo, with Subasio olive oil and Sagrantino alongside. The restaurants by the basilica lean towards set menus for tour groups, so the good meals are on the side lanes and in the agriturismi.

Bergamo's Lombard mountain cooking is richer: casoncelli in butter and sage, polenta with game, and some of Italy's great cheeses. It also has aperitivo culture in the lower town and a real fine-dining tier in the province, which Assisi lacks.

These two are evenly matched, but in different ways. Assisi is built around a single great monument of faith and painting: the stacked churches of San Francesco, with Cimabue, Simone Martini and the Saint Francis cycle. Santa Chiara, the Temple of Minerva and the Porziuncola fill in the pilgrim's story.

Bergamo's appeal is more civic. The Venetian walls ring Piazza Vecchia, the Cappella Colleoni and Santa Maria Maggiore. Down the hill, the Accademia Carrara is a full picture gallery with Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna. Either town takes about two calm days.

Assisi has practically no evening life beyond a long dinner, a glass of wine and a stroll through floodlit, empty lanes. For a bar, you would drive to Perugia.

Bergamo is livelier without being a party town. Aperitivo spills into wine bars and pubs around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, and on summer nights people drink in the upper town's squares and on the walls. Most evenings end around midnight, and Milan is where the clubbing is.

Bergamo has the bigger mountains. Woodland paths climb from the Città Alta into the Colli di Bergamo park, and beyond them Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi, high lakes and small ski areas. The lakes add sailing and shoreline cycling.

Assisi's outdoors is gentler. Monte Subasio rises right behind the town, and a path through holm oaks passes the hermitage on its way to open summit meadows. The olive-covered valley below is easy cycling country, while the Valnerina and the Sibillini make bigger days out by car.

Both are excellent bases, for different kinds of touring. From Assisi you work through the hill towns of Umbria: Spello, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto, with Montefalco's wine villages and Deruta's ceramics in between. Trains cover the valley line, but the smaller towns really need a car.

Bergamo's trips are bigger and easier to reach by train. Milan's Duomo and Last Supper are under an hour away, Lake Como and Lake Iseo are closer still, and Brescia, Cremona and Verona all fit into a day.

Bergamo is far easier with children. The funicular rides up to the Città Alta and San Vigilio feel like an outing in themselves, the parks have playgrounds, and Leolandia's rides and Le Cornelle's animals are a short drive away.

Assisi is safe and welcoming, but its sights are hushed churches and its streets are steep steps. Families usually stay at a valley agriturismo with a pool and come up to town for short visits, with the Rocca Maggiore as the highlight for older children.

Bergamo is the easier town to manage without a car. Funiculars link the lower town to the Città Alta and on to San Vigilio, buses run to the station and the nearby airport, a light-rail line runs up Val Seriana, and direct trains go to Milan and Brescia.

Assisi's centre is compact but steep from end to end. Its station is about 4km below in Santa Maria degli Angeli, so every train journey starts with a bus or taxi. Away from the valley rail line, buses are thin on the ground.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but Bergamo has more to offer. The lower town's arcaded Sentierone and Via XX Settembre cover everyday fashion, and the lane through the Città Alta is lined with cheese shops, salumi counters and wine sellers.

In Assisi, devotional souvenirs crowd the streets. The things worth carrying home are Assisi-embroidered linen, Deruta ceramics, Subasio oil and Sagrantino.

Both are moderate for Italy, but Assisi goes slightly further on a budget. Its basilicas are free to enter, and simple convent rooms and valley agriturismi keep a stay cheap if you eat away from the streets nearest the basilica.

Bergamo is comfortable rather than cheap. The lower town's hotels and trattorias are fair value and the funicular costs little, but rooms and meals up in the Città Alta come at a premium.

Bergamo has a proper stage life thanks to Donizetti, its native composer. The Teatro Donizetti runs an opera and concert season and an autumn festival of his works, the Teatro Sociale adds smaller productions, and Bergamo Jazz comes round each spring.

Assisi's music is mostly sacred: organ recitals and choirs in the basilicas around the feast days, plus the medieval pageantry of Calendimaggio in spring. For opera or jazz, people go to Perugia.

For actual spa treatments, Bergamo is the better base. The Belle Époque spa at San Pellegrino Terme is about forty minutes up the valley, and the sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario have been in use since Roman times.

Assisi offers a different kind of rest: convent retreats, silent walks up to the Carceri and empty lanes once the tour groups leave. The spas are limited to a few country hotels.