Bergamo or Syracuse, Sicily?

This is where the two cities are furthest apart. Bergamo has no coast, so a summer swim means a trip out to Lake Iseo or the Lecco arm of Lake Como, where you lie on grass, pebbles or concrete platforms. It makes a pleasant hot day out but is not a reason to go.

In Syracuse the sea is part of daily life. People swim from wooden platforms beneath Ortigia's walls, families fill the sandy bays at Arenella and Fontane Bianche, and the pale sand at Calamosche in the Vendicari reserve is some of the best swimming in south-eastern Sicily.

Syracuse has the more memorable table, and most of it comes from the sea. The Ortigia market supplies swordfish, sea urchins, capers and citrus to pasta with sardines and spaghetti alla siracusana, and a granita with brioche makes the summer breakfast. Simple trattoria meals with Nero d'Avola are part of the pleasure.

Bergamo's cooking belongs to the mountains: casoncelli in butter and sage, polenta with braised meats and game, and valley cheeses such as Taleggio and Strachitunt. It is hearty and very good, and the province has a stronger fine-dining tier, but it is the narrower of the two kitchens.

Syracuse has the deeper well of sights. Its Greek past is still visible everywhere, from the temple columns inside the cathedral to the rock-cut theatre and Ear of Dionysius at Neapolis, and the Paolo Orsi museum and Caravaggio's Burial of Saint Lucy add enough to fill two or three full days.

Bergamo is a tighter package. The Città Alta, inside its UNESCO-listed Venetian walls, packs Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the Cappella Colleoni into a short walk. Its real advantage is painting: the Accademia Carrara's Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna give it a gallery Syracuse cannot match.

Neither city is for a big night out, and both evenings start with a long aperitivo. Syracuse is slightly livelier in summer, when Ortigia's lanes stay busy past midnight on weekends and the beach clubs along the southern coast add some dancing, though winter nights end early.

Bergamo is steadier through the year, with wine bars around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, student bars and summer drinks along the walls, but most nights wind down around midnight. For proper clubs, Bergamo looks to Milan and Syracuse to Catania.

Both have a lot of good countryside on the doorstep, but it is very different. From Bergamo you can walk up through the Colli di Bergamo to San Vigilio, and further north Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi, high lakes, small winter ski areas such as Foppolo, and sailing and cycling on the lakes.

Around Syracuse the outdoors means limestone gorges and the sea. Cavagrande's chain of pools and the trails below Pantalica lie inland, Vendicari's lagoons draw flamingos, and the Plemmirio marine reserve is good for snorkelling and diving, with Etna within a day's reach. Midday summer heat makes hiking hard there, while the Alps around Bergamo stay cooler.

Both are excellent bases, but they work in different ways. From Bergamo the trains do the work: Milan's Duomo and Last Supper are under an hour away, Brescia and Lecco are on direct lines, and Verona, Cremona and the car-free island of Monte Isola on Lake Iseo add variety.

Syracuse looks out over the baroque towns rebuilt after 1693: Noto, Modica, Ragusa Ibla and Scicli, with Taormina's theatre and the Piazza Armerina mosaics further afield. These trips are richer in one coherent style, but most of them really need a car.

Families do about equally well in both, for different reasons. Bergamo has the attractions built for children: funicular rides, Leolandia's rides and miniature Italy twenty minutes away, and the Le Cornelle wildlife park, though the cobbled upper town is hard going with a buggy.

Syracuse relies on the sea, with gently shelving sand at Fontane Bianche, car-free lanes on Ortigia, puppet shows and papyrus boat rides. It has no theme park or zoo, and in July and August the heat confines sightseeing to the early morning and evening.

Bergamo is much easier to manage without a car. Funiculars climb to the Città Alta and on to San Vigilio, buses run to the station and the nearby airport, a light-rail line runs up Val Seriana, and direct trains reach Milan and Brescia. You only need a car for the upper valleys.

In Syracuse you walk Ortigia in fifteen minutes and a taxi covers the archaeological park, but that is where easy travel ends. Buses are infrequent, trains to Noto and Catania are slow, and Vendicari or the inland gorges are realistically reached only by hire car.

Bergamo has a little more range. The arcades of Via XX Settembre and the Sentierone cover mid-range fashion, the upper town's main lane is lined with cheese shops and delicatessens, and Milan's serious shopping is less than an hour away.

Syracuse is more about craft than clothes: hand-painted ceramics, coral and silver jewellery, linen and papyrus paintings in Ortigia's lanes, plus capers, almonds and pistachio products from the market.

Overall the two cost about the same, but the money goes on different things. In Syracuse food is the bargain, with market sandwiches, arancini and simple meals that undercut the north, while Ortigia rooms in summer and the near-essential hire car push the bill up.

Bergamo's savings come from transport and lodging. Cheap buses and funiculars, fairly priced lower-town hotels and a train network that makes a car unnecessary keep costs steady, though staying inside the Città Alta costs more.

Bergamo has the fuller stage calendar, centred on its native Donizetti. The Teatro Donizetti runs a season of opera, concerts and theatre plus an autumn festival of his works, Bergamo Jazz fills the spring, and La Scala is within reach for an evening.

Syracuse has one event the north cannot match: Greek tragedies staged in the ancient theatre each late spring and early summer. Beyond that and Ortigia's puppet theatres, its evenings are quiet.

Bergamo is better placed for a spa. San Pellegrino Terme, about forty minutes up Val Brembana, offers thermal bathing in a grand Belle Époque setting, and the springs at Trescore Balneario have been in use since Roman times.

Syracuse has no bathing tradition, only hotel and day spas. Its restfulness comes from the pace of Ortigia out of season: long lunches, sea-wall walks and sunsets over the harbour.