Assisi or Naples?

There is no real contest here. Assisi lies inland, and the nearest swimming is the shallow, slightly murky water of Lake Trasimeno. A pool at an agriturismo is the realistic plan.

Naples has the sea close by, though the best swimming is not in the city itself. Locals swim off the rocks below the Lungomare and at the small lidos of Posillipo. For clear water you take a boat to Procida, Ischia or Capri, or go down the Sorrento peninsula.

Assisi cooks honest Umbrian country food: strangozzi with truffle, Castelluccio lentils, torta al testo, olive oil from Monte Subasio and Sagrantino to drink. The choice is narrow, though, and the restaurants near the basilica rely on set menus for tour groups.

Naples is a much bigger place to eat. Pizza, fried street food, sfogliatelle and espresso drunk standing at the bar are part of daily life, and the Pignasecca and Porta Nolana markets add buffalo mozzarella and fresh fish. Neither city has much international food, but Naples gives you far more to try in a day.

Assisi is one great monument and the town around it. The Basilica of San Francesco is two churches stacked on the hillside, with frescoes by Cimabue and Simone Martini and the cycle of Saint Francis's life traditionally given to Giotto. Santa Chiara and the Temple of Minerva complete a visit that is moving and unhurried, and two days cover it all.

Naples has more depth and more range. The Greek street grid around Spaccanapoli, the Pompeii finds in the Archaeological Museum, the Veiled Christ, the catacombs and tunnels underground and the Capodimonte gallery could easily fill a week.

An evening in Assisi means a long dinner, a glass of Sagrantino and a walk through empty, floodlit lanes, which is exactly what many visitors come for. Anyone wanting more goes to Perugia.

Naples has a real night out, though it happens in the street rather than in clubs. Students drink on the steps around Piazza Bellini, and a better-dressed crowd fills the alleys of Chiaia until well past midnight, especially in summer.

Assisi's outdoors are gentle and close by. A path climbs Monte Subasio through holm-oak woods to the Eremo delle Carceri and on to the open summit meadows. Down in the valley, the cycling is easy among olive groves and vineyards.

Naples has the more dramatic setting. A short trail climbs Vesuvius to its crater rim, the Phlegraean Fields hold crater lakes and the woods of Astroni, and Gaiola is good for snorkelling. The Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast is within a long day. Green space inside the city is limited, though.

Both make excellent bases, in different ways. From Assisi, the hill towns of Umbria lie all around: Spello, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto. A car opens up the smaller ones and the Tuscan towns just over the border.

Naples has even more famous places within reach, and you don't need a car for them. Pompeii and Herculaneum are on the Circumvesuviana line and Caserta is a short train ride away. Ferries run to Capri, Ischia and Procida, with the Amalfi Coast and Paestum further on.

Neither city is built for children. Assisi is calm and safe, but its sights are churches that need silence and its lanes are steep and stepped. Older children enjoy the Rocca Maggiore and Monte Subasio, and families usually stay in the valley.

Naples is harder going on the street, with scooters and broken pavements, but it gives children more to do. There are the funiculars, the underground tunnels, Edenlandia and the zoo, a ferry ride and Pompeii. The usual answer is to base the family in Sorrento or on an island.

Getting around takes about the same effort in both, for different reasons. Assisi is small but steep, with stairs between the basilica and Piazza del Comune. Its station is 4km below in the valley and buses are sparse beyond the railway line, so most visitors exploring Umbria hire a car.

Naples needs no car at all, thanks to Metro Line 1 and four funiculars. But its buses are unreliable, the Circumvesuviana is crowded and slow, and crossing the road takes nerve.

Shopping in Assisi is mostly devotional souvenirs. A few local goods among them are worth buying: embroidered Assisi linen, Deruta ceramics, olive oil and Sagrantino.

Naples is a proper shopping city. The tailors of Chiaia make suits, shirts and silk ties, and Via Toledo and the Galleria Umberto I cover the high street. The nativity workshops of San Gregorio Armeno and the coral and cameos from Torre del Greco are crafts you won't find elsewhere.

Overall costs are much the same in both. In Assisi the basilicas are free, convent guesthouses are cheap and the agriturismi are good value, though hotels inside the walls cost more around Easter and on big feast days.

Naples is cheap day to day, with pizza, coffee and transport all costing little. Ferries, island hotels, beach clubs and entry fees for the big sites push the bill up once you leave the city.

Music in Assisi is sacred and seasonal: organ and choral concerts in the basilicas, and the medieval Calendimaggio festival in spring. For opera or jazz, visitors go to Perugia.

Naples has the Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest opera house in Europe still in use, with a full season of opera, ballet and concerts. There are also concerts at the conservatory and Neapolitan song in small shows and trattorias. Theatre is almost all in Italian or dialect, and jazz clubs are few.

The two offer different kinds of rest. In Assisi it is the quiet itself: still mornings, convent retreats and silent walks, with only a handful of spas in country hotels.

Naples is noisy and not restful in itself, but its volcanic ground gives real thermal water. There is a spa at Agnano on the edge of the city, and above all there is Ischia, where thermal parks are terraced through gardens above the sea.