Assisi or Florence?

Neither is a place to swim, and the difference is the kind of water within reach. From Assisi, the nearest is Lake Trasimeno, about 45 minutes by car, with small lidos and shallow, slightly murky water in high summer.

Florence has the edge because a proper sea is within reach. The long sandy beaches of the Versilia are about an hour and a half by train, which makes them a full day out. Otherwise, hotel pools are the answer in both places.

Florence offers far more choice. Lampredotto from the carts, the Mercato Centrale and Sant'Ambrogio market, bistecca in Oltrarno trattorias, serious gelato and a fine-dining tier give you something different at every meal. The Chianti vineyards also start at the edge of the city.

Assisi cooks honest Umbrian country food: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, Monte Subasio olive oil and Sagrantino from Montefalco. However, it has no market hall or street food, and the best meals are in side-lane trattorias or valley agriturismi rather than near the basilica.

Assisi has one of Europe's great monuments: the double Basilica of San Francesco, with its Giotto cycle and Cimabue frescoes. Santa Chiara, the Temple of Minerva and the Rocca complete a visit that fills two calm days.

Florence works on a different scale. The Duomo and Baptistery, the Uffizi, David at the Accademia, the Bargello's sculpture and the Pitti Palace are only the start. Smaller treasures such as San Marco and the Brancacci Chapel can fill a week.

Assisi has almost no nightlife. You can have a long dinner, a wine bar and a walk through the floodlit lanes, and many visitors come for exactly that stillness. Anyone who wants more has to go to Perugia.

Florence has real evenings out without being a party city. People drink outdoors around Piazza Santo Spirito, Sant'Ambrogio draws locals, student pubs cluster near the centre and summer bars line the Arno. Clubs are few, and most nights end at a wine bar.

These are roughly level. In Assisi, a real mountain starts at the town walls: Monte Subasio's paths climb straight from the town past the Eremo delle Carceri to open summit meadows, and the Valnerina and Sibillini are within driving distance.

Florence's countryside is gentler and more cultivated. You take the bus to Fiesole's olive terraces or cycle the cypress lanes of Chianti, and the Casentino forests and Apuan Alps make longer days out.

Both make excellent bases, but Florence has more major destinations and better rail links. Siena, Pisa and walled Lucca are about an hour away, and Bologna is a short high-speed train ride. San Gimignano, Volterra and the Chianti villages are easy by car or tour.

Assisi is in the middle of Umbria, with Spello, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio and Todi close by and Orvieto worth a full day. The trains cover only the valley towns, so you will rely more on a car here.

Florence gives children more to do. They can climb the dome or the bell tower, take the family tours through Palazzo Vecchio's secret passages, look at the globes at the Museo Galileo and run around the Boboli Gardens, and Pinocchio's park at Collodi is about an hour away. The heat and summer crowds are the downside.

Assisi is safe and welcoming, but its sights call for silence and its stepped lanes are hard with a pushchair. Older children enjoy the Rocca and the walk up Subasio. Families usually stay at a valley agriturismo with a pool and visit the town in short trips.

Florence is easier on foot. Its main sights are within about twenty minutes' walk of each other on level ground, Santa Maria Novella station is in the centre, and trams and small buses cover the rest. A car is only worth having for the countryside.

Assisi is just as compact but steep, with stairs between the basilica and Piazza del Comune. Its station is about 4km below in Santa Maria degli Angeli, and beyond the valley rail line buses are sparse, so most visitors hire a car.

Shopping is a real reason to visit Florence. You can buy leather from the San Lorenzo stalls or from workshops, marbled paper and gold from the Ponte Vecchio, watch gilders and restorers at work in the Oltrarno, and browse the luxury houses on Via de' Tornabuoni and the antique dealers of Via Maggio.

In Assisi, the shops are mostly rosaries and Tau crosses. The things worth carrying home are Assisi-embroidered linens, Deruta ceramics, olive oil, truffle products and Sagrantino.

Assisi is noticeably kinder to your wallet. The basilicas and most churches are free, convent guesthouses offer clean, simple rooms cheaply, and eating a lane or two away from the basilica saves money.

In Florence, the costs of centre hotels, museum tickets and the Duomo climbs add up over a few days. Street food, market lunches, cheap house wine and walking everywhere help, as do staying across the river or visiting in winter.

Florence has a proper season. The Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino puts on opera, concerts and ballet, its spring festival is one of Europe's oldest, and the Pergola stages theatre, though almost always in Italian. Visitors more often catch chamber concerts in churches.

In Assisi, the music is mostly sacred: organ and choral concerts in the basilicas, plus the medieval song and processions of Calendimaggio in spring. For opera or jazz, people go to Perugia.

Neither has a real bathing culture, so the difference lies in where the calm comes from. Assisi offers stillness itself: quiet mornings once the tour groups have gone, retreats in convent guesthouses and silent walks to the Eremo delle Carceri.

Florence's crowded centre is not restful, but thermal water is within reach. Montecatini Terme is under an hour by train, and the outdoor sulphur pools at Bagno Vignoni and Saturnia make a longer outing.