Bari or Florence?

Bari has the sea on its doorstep. Pane e Pomodoro is a sandy beach just beyond the centre, and the lidos and rocky platforms around Torre Quetta carry on along the shore. In summer you can swim in warm, calm water on any afternoon. The better swimming is a short train ride south, among the limestone coves of Polignano a Mare and the clear inlets around Monopoli.

Florence has no swimming to speak of. The Versilia beaches near Viareggio take about an hour and a half by train, and they are rows of rented loungers rather than wild coves. Most visitors cool off in a hotel or public pool instead.

Both are excellent places to eat, and the difference is in the cooking itself. In Bari the food is about the sea and the street. You'll find raw urchins and octopus by the fishermen's pier, focaccia barese and fried sgagliozze from kitchen windows, and orecchiette rolled by hand in the old town lanes, with Primitivo and Negroamaro to drink.

Florence is meat, bread and wine country: thick bistecca, ribollita and lampredotto from street carts. The Mercato Centrale and Sant'Ambrogio show how the city really eats, and Chianti vineyards start just south of town. Florence also has more fine dining, but more tourist menus too, so pick trattorie in the Oltrarno over the streets around the Duomo.

Here Florence is in a different league. The Duomo, the Baptistery, the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Bargello and the Pitti Palace together make one of the great concentrations of art in the world. Smaller treasures such as the Brancacci Chapel and the Medici Chapels could fill a week.

Bari's sights are charming but few. The Basilica di San Nicola is a fine piece of Apulian Romanesque and a real pilgrimage site, and it sits near the cathedral, the Norman-Swabian castle and the whitewashed lanes of Bari Vecchia. Add the Murat quarter and the Pinacoteca, and most visitors have seen it in a day or two.

Bari has the livelier evenings. Students and young locals fill Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese late into the night, the bars of the Umbertino streets and the seafront stay open past midnight, and in high summer the crowd heads to beach clubs along the coast. It is mostly a local crowd, and winter weeknights are quiet.

Florence's evenings centre on aperitivo and wine bars. Piazza Santo Spirito and Sant'Ambrogio are the liveliest corners, and there are student pubs near the centre. Clubs are few and the night ends earlier, so it suits a long dinner more than dancing.

Florence has more countryside close at hand. The olive terraces of Fiesole and the paths up Monte Morello begin at the edge of town, the Chianti hills are classic walking and cycling country, and the Casentino forests and the Apuan Alps are within a long day.

Bari sits on a flat plain of olive groves. Its seafront promenade is the main outdoor space, and the open karst plateau of Alta Murgia and the Grotte di Castellana are about an hour away. It is gentle country with no mountains near.

Both are superb bases, and many people choose either one for the excursions alone. Florence has the edge. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano and the Chianti villages are all close, and Bologna is under forty minutes by fast train. Good rail links from Santa Maria Novella make most of these easy without a car.

From Bari the trips are just as memorable: the cave dwellings of Matera, the trulli of Alberobello, Ostuni's white streets, Trani's cathedral on the sea and Baroque Lecce. Regional lines are slower and less frequent, though, so the inland towns often call for a hire car.

Bari is a little easier with children. The sandy city beach, the traffic-free lanes of the old town and the evening stroll on the seafront all suit younger ones. The Grotte di Castellana and the Fasano safari park make good outings. You'll need to plan around the midday heat.

In Florence most of what is on offer was made for adults. Climbing the dome, the secret passages of Palazzo Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens help, and Collodi's Pinocchio park is an hour away. Narrow pavements and summer crowds make it harder work.

Florence is the easier city to get around. The Duomo, the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio and the Pitti Palace are all within a short walk of each other, trams run to the airport, and the main station is right in the centre for day trips. A car is only useful once you leave the city.

Central Bari is also flat and easy on foot, and a train runs to the airport. Beyond the centre things get harder: the buses are slow and confusing, and the regional railways can be infrequent, which is why many visitors hire a car.

Florence is far better for shopping. It has leather workshops and the San Lorenzo stalls, marbled paper, jewellers on the Ponte Vecchio, gilders and restorers in the Oltrarno, and luxury fashion houses along Via de' Tornabuoni.

Bari's shopping is mostly practical: chain stores along Via Sparano and a few boutiques. The best things to bring home are edible, such as dried orecchiette, taralli and olive oil, plus some Puglian ceramics.

Bari is the cheaper of the two. Street food, trattoria meals and local wine cost little, the main sights are free, and rooms stay reasonable outside July and August. Beach clubs and car hire are the main extra costs.

Florence costs noticeably more. Hotels in the centre are expensive for much of the year, and museum and dome tickets add up over a few days. Eating at market counters, staying across the river or coming in winter helps.

Both cities centre on a major opera house, and Florence has the deeper tradition. Opera was more or less born there. The Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has its own orchestra, and the spring Maggio Musicale is one of Europe's oldest festivals.

Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli, one of Italy's largest opera houses, puts on opera, ballet and concerts, and a summer jazz festival plays in the piazzas and the castle. In both cities the theatre is mostly in Italian.

Neither city is much of a spa destination, but Florence has more within reach. Montecatini Terme's thermal halls are under an hour by train, and the hot springs of Bagno Vignoni and Saturnia make a longer outing. The Boboli and Bardini gardens offer calm in town.

Bari has no bathing tradition beyond hotel spas. What it offers is a slow pace: long lunches and evening strolls on the seafront. For real pampering, visitors book a restored country estate inland.