Assisi or Genoa?

Assisi sits inland, about two hours from either coast, so swimming means a hotel pool or the shallow, slightly murky lido beaches of Lake Trasimeno. That is fine for cooling off, but there is no reason to come for it.

Genoa has the sea within the city itself, at the pebble cove of Boccadasse, the rock platforms below Nervi and the bathing establishments along Corso Italia. Camogli, Sestri Levante and the sandier stretch at Varazze are all close by train. Expect pebbles, rented loungers and crowded summer weekends, but a clear-water swim is an easy afternoon here.

Both cities cook regional food, but Genoa gives you far more of it, and it is easier to find. Assisi has the Umbrian classics: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, torta al testo, Subasio olive oil and Sagrantino from Montefalco. The catch is that many restaurants near the basilica serve set menus for tour groups, so the good meals take some seeking out in side lanes and country agriturismi.

Genoa puts good food in front of you all day. Breakfast is focaccia, the old-town friggitorie sell farinata and panissa for a snack, lunch is pesto with trofie, and the harbour serves fresh seafood with Vermentino. The Mercato Orientale shows off the region's produce, which Assisi, with no market hall, cannot match.

Assisi is built around one masterpiece. The stacked basilica of San Francesco, with Cimabue in the dim Lower Church and the Giotto cycle above, is a sight of European rank. Santa Chiara, the Temple of Minerva and the Porziuncola complete a compact town you can see properly in two days.

Genoa has more breadth and rewards a longer stay. It offers the vast medieval maze of the caruggi, the Rolli palaces on Via Garibaldi with Van Dyck and Rubens in their painted halls, San Lorenzo cathedral, the Lanterna lighthouse and the marble sculpture of Staglieno. No single sight equals Assisi's basilica, but there is far more to explore.

In Assisi, the evening is dinner, a glass of Sagrantino and a walk through floodlit lanes that are empty by eleven. Anyone wanting a bar crowd has to go to Perugia.

Genoa is no party city, and its club scene is small. Still, students and locals fill the bars around Piazza delle Erbe for aperitivo, the Porto Antico and Foce have waterfront terraces, and summer nights move out to the beach clubs along Corso Italia. A late drink in a medieval square is easy here and close to impossible in Assisi.

Assisi's outdoors is gentle and inland. A path climbs Monte Subasio through holm oaks to the Eremo delle Carceri and the open summit meadows, and the valley below is good for cycling between Spello and Montefalco. The Sibillini and the Valnerina are wilder, but you need a car to reach them.

Genoa combines mountains and sea, and you can do more of it without a car. A funicular takes you up to the forts trail above the port, and the cliff paths of the Portofino promontory and the Cinque Terre terraces are a train ride away. Boats also go out to look for whales and dolphins in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in the scenery. From Assisi you tour hill towns: Spello ten minutes away, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto's cathedral, with Montepulciano over the Tuscan border. Trains cover the valley line, but a car makes the smaller towns much easier.

From Genoa you work along the coast by rail, to Camogli, Portofino, Sestri Levante and the Cinque Terre in one direction and Finale Ligure Borgo and Noli in the other. Milan and Turin are close enough for a museum day. You can manage all of it without a car.

Genoa is much easier with children. The Porto Antico packs together one of Europe's largest aquariums, a children's science centre, a tropical biosphere and the Galata museum's submarine, and riding the funiculars is a treat in itself. The steep old town is hard work with a pushchair.

Assisi is safe and children are made welcome, but it has frescoes that need hush, stepped streets and hot afternoons. The Rocca Maggiore and a walk on Subasio are the only real draws for older children, and families usually stay at a valley agriturismo with a pool.

Assisi's centre takes about twenty minutes to cross on foot, but it is all slopes and stairs. The railway station is 4km below in Santa Maria degli Angeli, so you need a bus or taxi up. Buses beyond the valley line are sparse, which pushes most visitors towards hiring a car.

Genoa is just as steep, but it does more to help. Funiculars, a rack railway and public lifts climb the hills, and a short metro line runs through the centre. Most usefully, the coastal railway reaches Nervi and the Riviera towns, so a car is a burden rather than a need.

Shopping in Assisi revolves around the pilgrims: rosaries and Tau crosses, with some genuine finds among them, such as Assisi-embroidered linens, Deruta ceramics, truffle products and Sagrantino.

Genoa has more choice without being a shopping destination. Via XX Settembre's arcades and Via Roma cover the familiar Italian labels. The old town is the more rewarding part, with historic shops selling candied fruit and pesto and workshops making silver filigree and coral.

Costs are similar in both, so the savings come in different places. In Assisi the basilicas are free, and convent guesthouses and valley agriturismi keep beds cheap, though rooms inside the walls cost more around Easter and big feasts.

In Genoa, street food like focaccia and farinata makes eating very cheap, and the funiculars and lifts are inexpensive. The money goes on Riviera resort towns and loungers at the bathing establishments in summer.

Genoa has a proper cultural calendar. The Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari stages opera, ballet and symphony concerts, the Teatro Nazionale runs a drama season in Italian, and Paganini concerts and small singer-songwriter clubs fill other evenings.

In Assisi, music is mostly sacred: organ and choral concerts in the basilicas around the feasts, plus the costumed singing and processions of Calendimaggio in spring. For opera or jazz you go to Perugia.

Neither city has a bathing culture, so the rest you get in each is a different kind. Assisi's is stillness. Once the day-trippers leave, the lanes are empty in the early morning, convent guesthouses take people on retreat, and the walk up to the Eremo delle Carceri is a silent one. For actual treatments there are only a handful of spas, mostly in country hotels and agriturismi down in the valley.

Genoa's centre is the opposite, with port traffic and crowded caruggi, so you have to go looking for calm. The quietest corner is Nervi, with its seafront promenade and villa gardens, and the Riviera villages are good for long, slow lunches. For thermal waters, the nearest spa town is Acqui Terme in the Piedmont hills, a little over an hour away.