Assisi or Salerno?

There is no real contest here. Assisi is an inland hill town, and its nearest swimming is the shallow, slightly murky water of Lake Trasimeno, so for most visitors a pool at an agriturismo in the valley is the realistic option.

Salerno is on the sea itself. Its grey-sand city beaches are fine for a quick swim. The long sandy shore towards Paestum and the clear coves of the Amalfi Coast give it proper beach days from June to September.

Assisi serves honest Umbrian country food: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, olive oil from Monte Subasio and Sagrantino from Montefalco. But the choice is narrow, and the restaurants near the basilica lean towards set menus for tour groups.

Salerno eats better and more widely. Seafood, wood-fired pizza and buffalo mozzarella made that day on the plain towards Paestum sit alongside the friggitorie and pastry shops of the old town. Eating out here is a daily local habit, not something arranged around visitors.

Here Assisi is clearly ahead. The Basilica of San Francesco is two churches stacked on the hillside and covered in frescoes by Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini and Lorenzetti. It is one of the great monuments of Europe, and the Temple of Minerva, Santa Chiara and the tiny Porziuncola chapel fill out two unhurried days.

Salerno's sights are pleasant but on a smaller scale: the Norman cathedral with Saint Matthew's crypt, the medicinal Giardino della Minerva and the Arechi Castle. Its most important heritage lies outside the city, at Pompeii and Paestum.

An evening in Assisi means dinner, a glass of Sagrantino and a walk home through empty, floodlit lanes, and for anything more you go to Perugia, half an hour away. Salerno has a real if modest scene. On weekends and summer nights, young locals drink outside the wine bars around Largo Campo and Via dei Mercanti until late, though for clubbing you have to head along the coast or to Naples.

Both have good walking, but Salerno's landscapes are more dramatic. Assisi has Monte Subasio right behind the town, with a path through holm-oak woods to the Eremo delle Carceri and open summit meadows above it. The gentle valley below is ideal for cycling between wine villages.

Salerno has the cliffs and terraced lemon groves of the Amalfi Coast, the Path of the Gods in the Lattari mountains, and the gorges and headlands of the Cilento. The sea adds boat trips, kayaking and sailing.

Both towns are excellent bases, and the difference lies in what surrounds them. Around Assisi are Umbrian hill towns: Spello, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto. It is a run of medieval centres, and for the smaller ones a car is easier than the valley railway.

Salerno has the edge for variety and ease. Paestum's Greek temples and Pompeii are each about half an hour away by train, Naples is close by fast train, and in summer ferries run to Amalfi and Positano. Ancient sites, a big city and the coast all fit into a single stay.

Assisi is safe and welcoming, but there is little for children beyond the Rocca Maggiore castle and a walk on Monte Subasio. Its frescoed churches need silence and its stepped streets are hard with a pushchair, so families usually stay at an agriturismo with a pool in the valley.

Salerno is the easier choice with children. Its flat, car-free seafront promenade has playgrounds and gelato, the sandy beaches south of the city are shallow, and the Luci d'Artista Christmas lights make winter visits fun.

Assisi's centre is compact but steep, a twenty-minute walk of stairs and slopes. Its railway station is 4km below the old town in Santa Maria degli Angeli, and once you leave the valley railway a hire car is close to essential.

Salerno is flatter and better connected. The station, the shopping street, the seafront and the old town all lie in one walkable strip, and trains run direct to Naples, Pompeii and Paestum. In summer the ferries take care of the Amalfi Coast, so most visitors never need a car.

Neither town is a shopping destination. Assisi's streets are full of rosaries and Franciscan souvenirs, and the buys worth looking for among them are embroidered Umbrian linens, Deruta ceramics and truffle products.

Salerno offers more. Corso Vittorio Emanuele is a proper pedestrian high street that is busiest at passeggiata time, and Vietri majolica, limoncello and Cetara's colatura are all close at hand.

Costs are much the same in both, but you save in different ways. In Assisi the basilicas are free, convent guesthouses offer cheap, simple rooms, and prices rise mainly on feast days and in the restaurants next to the basilicas.

Salerno's savings come every day: pizzerias that charge local prices, cheap regional trains and rooms well below the prices of the Amalfi villages. Summer costs more, as ferries, lido sunbeds and entry to Pompeii and Paestum add up.

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

Salerno has more of its own. The gilded Teatro Verdi runs a proper season of opera, concerts and ballet. In summer, the Ravello Festival's concerts on cliff-top terraces above Amalfi make a memorable evening out.

Neither town has a bathing culture, and both offer calm that comes from their pace rather than from treatments. Assisi's quiet runs deeper: still mornings after the tour groups leave, retreats in convent guesthouses and silent walks to the Eremo delle Carceri.

Salerno's calm is seaside ease, with sunset walks along the palm-lined promenade and long lunches, though traffic on its main roads stops it feeling like a retreat. For thermal water, Contursi Terme is about an hour inland.