Assisi or Bologna?

Neither city is for a beach vacation, but Bologna gets you to the sea far more easily. From Assisi the nearest swimming is at the small lido beaches of Lake Trasimeno, where the water is warm, shallow and a little murky, or in a hotel pool.

From Bologna, a train reaches Rimini in about an hour. The Adriatic there is warm and gentle in July and August, though the shore is lined with rented umbrellas, which is enough for a seaside day when the city heat gets too much.

Assisi cooks in the plain Umbrian way: truffled strangozzi, Castelluccio lentils, wild boar, torta al testo, olive oil from the slopes of Subasio and Sagrantino from Montefalco. It is good produce, but the choice is narrow, and the restaurants near the basilica lean towards set menus for tour groups. The better meals are found in side-lane trattorias and country agriturismi.

In Bologna, food is a reason to make the trip. Ragù, tortellini in brodo, mortadella and hand-rolled pasta are made with care in old osterie, and the market lanes of the Quadrilatero and the Mercato delle Erbe are a pleasure to wander. Parmigiano and balsamic vinegar come from towns close by. In both cities the cooking is regional, so there is little else on offer.

Assisi holds one of the great artistic sights of Europe in the two-storey Basilica of San Francesco, with frescoes by Cimabue and Simone Martini below and the Giotto cycle of the life of Francis above. Add Santa Chiara, the Temple of Minerva and the Porziuncola down in the valley, and two calm days cover it all.

Bologna offers more to see overall. Its whole brick medieval centre is the sight, with miles of porticoes, San Petronio, the Two Towers and the seven churches of Santo Stefano, plus the anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio and the Bolognese painters in the Pinacoteca. It fills a day longer and rewards wandering rather than a single pilgrimage.

After dark the two cities could hardly be more different. Assisi goes quiet once the day-trippers leave, and an evening means dinner, a glass of Sagrantino and a walk through empty floodlit lanes. Anyone who wants a night out drives to Perugia.

Bologna's large student population keeps the university quarter around Piazza Verdi busy late into the night, and Via del Pratello is lined with small taverns. The aperitivo crowd moves on to wine bars around Via San Vitale. It is informal rather than glamorous, the clubs are out on the edge of town, and August is quiet.

Assisi has the better landscape right on its doorstep. You can walk from town up Monte Subasio, past the Eremo delle Carceri to grassy summit meadows above the Umbrian valley, and the olive and vineyard country below is gentle cycling. The Valnerina and the Sibillini make bigger days out by car.

Bologna has its pleasures too, including the arcaded climb to San Luca, the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi and the Via degli Dei trail to Florence, which starts in Piazza Maggiore. Its higher Apennine peaks, though, are an hour and a half away, and the plain to the north is flat farmland.

Both make excellent bases, but of different kinds. From Assisi the outings are the Umbrian hill towns close by: Spello in ten minutes, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto's cathedral, with a car needed for the smaller ones.

Bologna goes further, because it sits at the rail junction of northern Italy. Florence is about half an hour away by fast train, Ravenna's mosaics and Ferrara's castle are close, and Modena and Parma are short rides along the Via Emilia. Venice and Verona also make easy days out, all without a car.

Bologna is noticeably easier with children. Its centre is flat and largely closed to traffic, the porticoes give shade, and older children enjoy climbing the Asinelli tower. Mirabilandia and the Rimini beaches make good extra days out.

Assisi is safe and welcoming, but its stepped lanes defeat pushchairs and its frescoed churches ask for silence. The Rocca Maggiore and the Subasio walk suit older children, and most families are happier at a valley agriturismo with a pool.

Bologna is the simpler city to get around. Its centre is flat and walkable under the arcades, and the main station sits at the edge of the old town with trains in every direction. Buses fill the gaps, and a car only gets in the way.

Assisi is small but steep, with stairs and slopes from the basilica up to Piazza del Comune. Its station is 4km below in Santa Maria degli Angeli, so you need a bus or taxi up to town. Away from the valley rail line, most visitors end up hiring a car.

In Assisi, shopping mostly means pilgrim souvenirs, rosaries and Tau crosses. Among them are worthwhile Umbrian linens with Assisi embroidery, Deruta ceramics, truffle products and Sagrantino.

Bologna has more choice, though food still leads: mortadella, aged Parmigiano and fresh tortellini from the Quadrilatero delicatessens. There are high-street chains on Via dell'Indipendenza, a small luxury cluster around the Galleria Cavour, the Montagnola market and independent bookshops and vintage stores in the university quarter.

Assisi is the somewhat cheaper stay. The basilicas cost nothing to enter, convent guesthouses and valley agriturismi keep rooms affordable, and only restaurants beside the basilicas and hotels at Easter cost more.

In Bologna, eating and drinking are good value, with honest trattorias and food included with the aperitivo. The rooms are what costs, since hotels in the old town are priced for prosperous northern Italy and become scarce when the big trade fairs are on.

Bologna has a real musical life. The historic Teatro Comunale stages opera, ballet and symphony concerts, small basement clubs play jazz most nights, and in summer there are concerts and film screenings in Piazza Maggiore.

Assisi's music is sacred and tied to the seasons: organ and choral concerts in the basilica around feast days, and the medieval costume and song of Calendimaggio in spring. For opera or jazz, visitors go to Perugia.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, and their calm comes from different places. In Assisi it is spiritual: convent retreats, silent walks to the Eremo and empty lanes at dawn, with only a few spas in country hotels.

Bologna offers slow lunches under the porticoes and real thermal water nearby, at Castel San Pietro Terme and the old Apennine spa town of Porretta Terme. The noisy university quarter and the heavy summer heat make the city itself less restful.