Bergamo or Pisa?

Pisa has a real coast and Bergamo does not. From Pisa, the long sandy beaches of Tirrenia and Calambrone, backed by pine woods, are about 12km away, with shallow water for paddling and Versilia a short train ride north.

Bergamo's answer is lake swimming at Lake Iseo or on the Lecco arm of Lake Como, from lidos, grassy shores and concrete platforms. It makes a fine hot day out, but anyone who wants sand and salt water should choose Pisa.

The two cities eat about equally well, but from different kitchens. Bergamo cooks Alpine Lombard food: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta, game, and a remarkable cheese board of Taleggio, Branzi and Strachitunt, with a serious fine-dining tier in the province.

Pisa is Tuscan and plainer: ribollita, salt cod and hot cecina from wood ovens, best eaten in the student trattorias around Piazza delle Vettovaglie. Its seafood improves towards the coast, while Bergamo is the place for cheese lovers and a richer, more northern table.

Each city has one great set piece, and they are equally strong. Bergamo's is a whole walled hilltop town, with Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni, plus Raphael and Bellini at the Accademia Carrara below the hill.

Pisa's is the Piazza dei Miracoli, the cathedral, baptistery, tower and Camposanto standing together on one lawn, with more to find in Piazza dei Cavalieri, at the San Matteo museum and along the Lungarni. Bergamo is better for atmospheric strolling, and Pisa for a single, unforgettable architectural ensemble.

Neither is a party town, but Pisa has more life after dark. During term, students fill the small squares around the old market and talk well past midnight, and in summer the evening shifts to beach bars on the coast.

Bergamo runs to a long aperitivo, wine bars and pubs around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, with drinks in the upper-town squares on summer nights, and it tends to end by midnight. In both cases, a proper club night means another city.

Bergamo has the bigger landscapes. The Colli di Bergamo park climbs from the upper town, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with high lakes, rifugi, the Serio waterfall and small winter ski areas such as Foppolo, while two lakes add sailing and cycling.

Pisa's outdoors are gentler and closer to sea level: the pine forest, wetland and dunes of San Rossore, where you can ride or cycle among fallow deer, and olive-terrace paths on the Monte Pisano. The Apuan Alps and Cinque Terre give real hiking, but they are further away.

Both are outstanding bases, and Pisa has the edge. Florence is about an hour away, Lucca under half an hour, and the Cinque Terre, Viareggio and the marble towns of Carrara and Pietrasanta are all easy by train, with Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena further out.

Bergamo's range is Lombard: Milan in under an hour, Lake Como and Lake Iseo's Monte Isola closer still, and Crespi d'Adda, Brescia, Cremona and Verona all within reach. The difference is one of flavour, Renaissance Tuscany and the coast against Lombardy's lakes and cities.

These two are about equal for families, in different ways. Bergamo has more built for children nearby, with the funiculars, the Leolandia theme park and the Le Cornelle wildlife park, though the cobbled lanes of the upper town are hard work with a buggy.

Pisa is flat and small, the tower lawn is a natural place to run about, and the shallow sandy beaches at Tirrenia are ideal for younger children. Bear in mind that small children cannot climb the tower, and plan around the summer crowds.

Pisa is the simpler city to move around. It is flat and compact, you can walk from the station to the cathedral square in about half an hour, and an automatic shuttle train links the airport to one of western Tuscany's main rail hubs.

Bergamo works on two levels, with funiculars between the lower town and the Città Alta and up to San Vigilio, and the steep walk between them is hard going. Trains reach Milan and Brescia directly, but the valleys and lake shores are much easier with a car.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and both send serious fashion shoppers elsewhere: Bergamo to Milan, and Pisa to Florence or Lucca. What differs is the haul you take home. Bergamo's upper town is lined with cheese shops, delicatessens and wine sellers, while Pisa offers arcaded Borgo Stretto, its produce market and a monthly antiques market by the river.

Both cities cost about the same, comfortable rather than cheap, and both make sensible bases because their hotels are fairly priced. The expensive spots differ. In Bergamo, rooms and restaurants inside the Città Alta cost more. In Pisa, it is the tower climb, the cafés beside the monuments and the summer beach loungers.

Bergamo has the stronger stage life, built around its native composer. The Teatro Donizetti runs an opera season and an autumn festival of Donizetti's works that draws serious opera lovers, the Teatro Sociale adds smaller productions, and Bergamo Jazz has a long history.

Pisa's Teatro Verdi offers an easy, unpretentious night of opera, ballet or concerts in a 19th-century horseshoe house, but there is little beyond it. Both cities are within reach of bigger houses, with La Scala an evening trip from Bergamo.

Bergamo is better for a restful stay. San Pellegrino Terme, the Belle Époque spa town of the mineral water, is about forty minutes up the valley, Trescore Balneario has ancient sulphur springs, and the quiet walls of the Città Alta set a slow pace in the mornings and evenings.

Pisa has San Giuliano Terme close by, with its 18th-century bath palace below the Monte Pisano, and a larger public pool at Casciana Terme. Its calm, though, comes mainly from the small scale of the town and slow evenings by the river.