Assisi or Taormina?

This is Taormina's ground entirely. A cable car drops from town to the glassy coves of Mazzarò and Isola Bella, which are good for snorkelling, and Giardini Naxos and Letojanni add longer sandy and shingle stretches. The local beaches are narrow pebble strips, though, and fill early in summer.

Assisi has no coast within easy reach. The nearest swimming is at the shallow lido beaches of Lake Trasimeno, so a hotel pool is the realistic option.

Taormina eats better and with more range: Sicilian seafood such as swordfish and raw red prawns, pasta alla Norma, granita and brioche for breakfast, a top tier of refined cooking and Etna's Nerello Mascalese and Carricante wines. On Corso Umberto you pay for the setting.

Assisi's cooking is earthier and narrower: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, torta al testo, Subasio olive oil and Montefalco Sagrantino. The good meals are in side-lane trattorias and country agriturismi, not near the basilica.

Assisi is in another league here. The two stacked churches of the Basilica of San Francesco hold one of the finest fresco ensembles in Italy, and the Temple of Minerva, Santa Chiara and the Porziuncola fill two calm days.

Taormina's Greek theatre, with Etna framed in its broken stage, is an unforgettable single sight, and Palazzo Corvaja and the Duomo add some Arab-Norman character. Beyond that the list is short and there are no major museums.

Neither is a party town, but Taormina at least has evenings out: aperitivo in Piazza IX Aprile, piano bars over the sea and a few beach clubs near Mazzarò that stay open late in summer. Assisi is silent by eleven, and anyone wanting bars goes to Perugia.

Taormina has the bigger outdoors, because it has Etna: lava flows, the Silvestri craters, guided trips towards the summit, winter skiing and vineyards on its flanks. Add the Alcantara gorges and diving and kayaking in the Isola Bella marine reserve.

Assisi's landscape is gentler but still rewarding. Monte Subasio rises behind the town, with a path to the Eremo delle Carceri and summit meadows, and the flat valley floor is good for cycling between Spello and Montefalco.

Assisi has the edge as a base, because Umbria's hill towns sit close around it. Spello is minutes away, Perugia and Spoleto are an easy train ride, and Gubbio, Todi, Orvieto and Tuscan border towns such as Cortona make full days out, most easily by car.

Taormina's nearer outings are easy too. Catania, with its black lava-stone baroque and fish market, is about an hour down the coast, Messina about an hour north, and Castelmola, Savoca and Etna's wine villages are close. The finest trips take longer, though: Syracuse and Ortigia are about two hours away, and the Val di Noto makes a long day.

Taormina works better with children, though neither town is built for them. The cable car to the sea, gelato, snorkelling at Isola Bella and lava fields on Etna give school-age children real things to do, and Giardini Naxos is flatter and sandier for little ones.

In Assisi the sights are churches that need silence and the lanes are stepped and hot in summer. The Rocca Maggiore and a walk on Subasio are the highlights, and a valley agriturismo with a pool makes a better base.

Both are small, steep towns walked on foot, with stairs at every turn, and both need a car for the countryside. The difference is the railway. In Assisi the station is about 4km below in the valley, with trains along the Umbrian line to Perugia and Spoleto.

In Taormina the station is by the sea, with coastal trains and coaches to Catania, Messina and Syracuse, and a cable car links town and beach.

Taormina offers more to browse. Corso Umberto has coral and cameo dealers, linen shops, resort-wear boutiques and Caltagirone majolica, though much of it is aimed at visitors.

Assisi's streets are mostly rosaries and Tau crosses. The goods worth seeking out are Assisi embroidery, Deruta ceramics and Sagrantino wine.

Assisi is the far kinder town for your wallet. The basilicas cost nothing to enter, convent guesthouses are cheap and simple, and eating a few lanes away from the main sights keeps meals reasonable.

Taormina is the priciest place in eastern Sicily, with grand hotels, scarce mid-range rooms in summer and resort prices on the Corso. Sleeping in Giardini Naxos or coming outside summer softens the cost.

Taormina has the more memorable stage: summer concerts, opera and ballet in the Greek theatre with Etna behind, plus a long-running film festival. Off-season it goes quiet. Assisi's music is sacred, with organ and choral concerts in the basilicas and the medieval Calendimaggio festival in spring.

Both offer calm rather than a bathing culture, but of different kinds. Assisi's is spiritual: convent retreats, silent walks to the Eremo and empty evening lanes.

Taormina's comes with comfort: hotel spas on sea terraces with volcanic mud treatments, and long lunches in the Villa Comunale's shade. That peace thins out in August.