Bergamo or Taormina?

Here the two are far apart. Taormina has the sea right below the town: a cable car drops to Mazzarò and the glassy cove at Isola Bella, where the water is good for snorkelling, and longer stretches of sand and shingle lie at Giardini Naxos and Letojanni. The catch is that the bays nearest town are narrow pebble strips that fill up in high summer.

Bergamo is inland, so swimming means a day out at Lake Iseo or the Lecco arm of Lake Como, from grassy lidos and concrete platforms rather than sand. It is a pleasant way to escape the heat, but it is not a beach vacation.

The two eat equally well, but they could hardly taste more different. Bergamo cooks the food of the Alpine valleys: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with braised meat and game, and cheeses such as Taleggio and Strachitunt, with Valcalepio and Franciacorta to drink. Taormina cooks from the sea and the orchards, with swordfish, raw red prawns, pasta alla Norma, granita and brioche for breakfast and Etna wines on every list.

Where you eat differs too. In Bergamo the everyday trattorias and aperitivo bars of the lower town are reliable. In Taormina the main Corso leans towards tourist menus, and the better ordinary meals are in the side streets or down in Giardini Naxos.

Bergamo has the deeper sightseeing. The Città Alta is a whole walled town inside Venetian fortifications, with Piazza Vecchia, the Baroque interior of Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni, and below the hill the Accademia Carrara holds Raphael, Mantegna and Lotto. That fills two days comfortably.

Taormina has one world-famous sight, the Greek theatre with Etna framed beyond its stage, and a short medieval main street of palazzi and churches. A slow day covers it, and with no major museums, more history means a trip to Syracuse or Catania.

Neither town is built for late nights, and both revolve around a long aperitivo. Bergamo has a small student crowd in the bars of Borgo Santa Caterina and Via XX Settembre, and Milan is close enough for a proper night out.

Taormina's evenings are more scenic but older and more couple-focused: a passeggiata on the Corso, then piano bars on terraces above the sea, with a few beach clubs staying open in summer. Out of season it is quiet soon after dinner.

Taormina has the more striking outdoors, because Etna is on its doorstep. Within an hour you can walk the Silvestri craters and old lava flows, go towards the summit with a guide or ski in winter, and the basalt gorges of the Alcantara are closer still. The marine reserve at Isola Bella adds diving and kayaking, which Bergamo cannot match.

Bergamo answers with mountains and lakes. The Colli di Bergamo park starts at the upper town, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps for hut-to-hut hiking and high lakes, though a car helps for most of them.

Bergamo is the stronger base. Milan, with the Last Supper and the Brera, is under an hour by train, Lake Como and Lake Iseo are closer still, and Brescia, Cremona and Verona are all realistic days out without a car.

Taormina's outings are excellent but further apart. Catania is about an hour away and Syracuse's Ortigia about two, while Noto needs an early start. Nearer at hand are the hill villages of Castelmola and Savoca and the wine villages on Etna's northern slopes.

Bergamo is easier with children. The funiculars up to the Città Alta and San Vigilio are a treat in themselves, the walls make a gentle walk, and Leolandia and the Le Cornelle wildlife park are short drives away. The upper town's cobbles are the main trial for a buggy.

Taormina is friendly to children but not designed for them. Its steps and steep lanes are hard work, the nearby beaches are pebbly and crowded in August, and many hotels are aimed at couples. Etna and snorkelling suit older children, and families with toddlers usually do better based in Giardini Naxos.

Bergamo is simpler to move around. Funiculars join its two levels, buses link the station and the airport, which is only a short ride from the centre, and direct trains reach Milan, Brescia and Lecco. Only the upper valleys and lake shores really need a car.

Taormina's pedestrian centre is short and walkable, but every outing involves stairs. The station is down by the sea, the airport is in Catania, and Etna and the inland villages realistically mean a tour or a hired car, with parking confined to garages on the edge of town.

Neither is a shopping destination, and both send serious shoppers elsewhere, Bergamo to Milan and Taormina to Catania. What you bring home differs: in Bergamo it is food from the cheese shops and delicatessens of the Città Alta, along with high-street fashion under the lower town's arcades.

Taormina's single shopping street sells coral, cameos, linen, Caltagirone majolica and moor's-head vases, plus pistachio cream and Etna wine. It is lovely for browsing, though much of it is aimed at visitors.

Bergamo costs a good deal less. Lower-town hotels and trattorias are fairly priced, and the buses and funicular are cheap, so it works well as an affordable base for Lombardy, though rooms inside the Città Alta cost more.

Taormina is the most expensive stay in eastern Sicily, with grand sea-view hotels, few mid-range rooms in summer and resort prices on the Corso. Staying in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni, or coming in spring or autumn, softens the bill.

Bergamo offers more performances through the year. It was Donizetti's birthplace, and the Teatro Donizetti runs a season of opera, concerts and theatre, with an autumn festival devoted to the composer, while Bergamo Jazz fills the spring and La Scala is an easy evening trip.

Taormina has one unforgettable stage rather than a programme. On summer nights the Greek theatre hosts opera, ballet and international concerts with Etna behind it, but outside summer there is little beyond chamber music, and real opera means Catania.

Bergamo has the edge, thanks to real spa towns nearby. San Pellegrino Terme, up Val Brembana, has a thermal spa in a grand Belle Époque setting, and Trescore Balneario's sulphur springs date back to the Romans. The quiet early mornings on the Città Alta walls help too.

In Taormina, wellness means the hotel spas, often with terrace pools above the sea and volcanic mud treatments, plus a slow pace in the Villa Comunale gardens. That calm holds in May, June and late September, but in August the crowds on the Corso break it.