Assisi or Sorrento?

Assisi has no beach at all. The nearest swimming is the shallow, slightly murky water of Lake Trasimeno, about 45 minutes away by car, so most visitors settle for a hotel pool.

Sorrento has no sand either, but it is a proper swimming town. The lidos at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande stand on piers over clear, deep water, the rocky inlet of the Bagni della Regina Giovanna is a short walk away, and pebble coves are a bus or boat ride off.

Both cook from their own land, but the land is different. Assisi means Umbrian farm food: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, wild boar, Monte Subasio olive oil and Sagrantino from Montefalco. It is excellent but narrow, with no market hall and little fine dining.

Sorrento offers more. Gnocchi alla sorrentina, fish cooked all'acqua pazza, lemons in everything, dairy from the hills and Neapolitan pizza give it more variety, and the hill villages of the peninsula hold some of southern Italy's most celebrated restaurants. In both towns, the best meals are away from the main squares.

This is Assisi's strongest suit by a long way. The double Basilica of San Francesco, with the Giotto cycle above and Cimabue and Lorenzetti below, is one of Europe's great monuments, and Santa Chiara, the Temple of Minerva and the Rocca Maggiore fill out two full days.

Sorrento's own sights are pleasant rather than essential: the cloister of San Francesco, the Museo Correale's Neapolitan paintings and porcelain, and the odd ruined mill in the Vallone dei Mulini. Its real heritage is in the places you travel to from it.

Neither town is for late nights, but Assisi is almost silent after dark, with a glass of Sagrantino and an empty floodlit lane by eleven. For bars, you go to Perugia.

Sorrento has more going on. After the passeggiata on Corso Italia there are cocktail terraces over the bay, piano bars playing Neapolitan song, a few pubs and, in summer, a club or two open past midnight.

Assisi offers gentle hill walking. The path up Monte Subasio passes the Eremo delle Carceri and climbs to open summit meadows, and the olive groves and vineyards of the valley below are good for cycling. The Sibillini and Valnerina are further afield by car.

Sorrento's landscape is more dramatic. Cliff paths lead to Punta Campanella and the protected bay of Ieranto, the Path of the Gods and the crater of Vesuvius are close, and the sea adds kayaking and boat trips around Capri's grottoes.

Both are superb bases, and the difference is in the kind of trip. From Assisi you have the Umbrian hill towns: Spello, Perugia, Spoleto, Gubbio, Todi and Orvieto, with Montepulciano over the Tuscan border. The valley railway covers some of them, but you need a car for the rest.

Sorrento has the edge because of the sheer fame of what lies around it. Pompeii and Herculaneum are a short train ride away, ferries cross to Capri, summer boats reach Positano and Amalfi, and Naples is about an hour off. You can do all of it by train or boat.

Neither town is made for children, but Sorrento works better. Its flat, largely pedestrian centre is easy with a pushchair, and boat rides to Capri, the ruins of Pompeii and gelato keep children busy. The swimming is into deep water, though, so it does not suit small children.

Assisi's stepped lanes are hard going with a pushchair, and its frescoed churches ask for silence. Older children enjoy the Rocca Maggiore, but families usually stay in the valley and come up for short visits.

Both are compact and walkable, with similar limits once you leave town. Assisi's centre climbs steeply between the basilica and the cathedral, the station is 4km below on the valley floor, and outside the rail line you will want a car.

Sorrento's centre is flat, with lifts down to the marinas, and a car is more trouble than help. You rely instead on the crowded Circumvesuviana, slow coast buses and ferries.

Sorrento is clearly the better of the two for shopping, though neither has fashion or design to speak of. In Assisi the streets around the basilicas are lined with rosaries, Tau crosses and Franciscan souvenirs. The worthwhile local goods take some finding: linen with Assisi embroidery, Deruta ceramics, truffle products and Sagrantino.

Sorrento's lanes around Corso Italia and Via San Cesareo sell real local crafts. There are intarsia boxes and trays from the town's long tradition of wood inlay, leather sandals made to measure while you wait, and coral and cameos, alongside the limoncello and lemon soaps. For bigger shopping, Naples and the boutiques of Capri are close by.

Assisi is noticeably easier on the wallet. The basilicas cost nothing to enter, convent guesthouses offer clean, simple rooms and agriturismi in the valley are good value. Only the restaurants beside the basilicas charge for their location.

Sorrento sits on one of Italy's most sought-after coasts, and sea-view rooms, lido sunbeds and boat trips all cost resort money in summer. Cheap trains and back-lane pizzerias help, and spring and late autumn bring hotel rates down.

Both are thin on stage culture, and both send serious audiences to a bigger city: Perugia's summer jazz festival from Assisi, Naples' Teatro di San Carlo from Sorrento. In Assisi, music is sacred and seasonal, with organ and choral concerts in the basilica and the costumed song of Calendimaggio in spring.

Sorrento leans towards popular and secular music: tarantella and Neapolitan song shows for visitors, hotel pianists singing 'Torna a Surriento' and summer chamber music in the cloister of San Francesco.

Sorrento is slightly better for pampering. Its cliff-top hotels have spas and pools over the bay, and the thermal gardens of Ischia are a ferry ride away. Its centre is noisy in high summer, though.

Assisi's restfulness is of another kind: retreats in convent guesthouses, silent early walks to the hermitage on Monte Subasio and empty lanes at dusk, with only a few spas in country hotels.