Bologna or Genoa?

Bologna has no shore of its own. A seaside day means the train to Rimini or Cervia, where the Adriatic is warm and shallow but often greenish and lined with rented sunbeds.

Genoa lets you swim without leaving town, from the pebble cove at Boccadasse, the lidos of Corso Italia or the rocks below Nervi, in clearer water. The Riviera towns of Camogli and Sestri Levante are close by train. It is still pebbles and crowded loungers rather than a true beach vacation, but a daily swim is easy here and awkward from Bologna.

Both are serious food cities, but Bologna has the richer and more famous table. Ragù, tortellini in brodo, lasagne verdi and mortadella anchor its trattorias, and Parmigiano, Parma ham and balsamic vinegar are made in towns nearby. It is a place to plan meals around, though the cooking is heavy in summer.

Genoa eats lighter and closer to the sea. You get pesto with trofie, focaccia at breakfast, farinata and fried fish from the friggitorie, and seafood with Vermentino in the harbour trattorias. It is excellent everyday eating, but with less depth than Bologna's kitchens.

The two are well matched, both built on a large medieval core, but they feel very different. Bologna's centre is open and arcaded, with brick porticoes, Piazza Maggiore, the Two Towers, Santo Stefano and the Archiginnasio's anatomical theatre. It is a coherent university city you can see in two or three days.

Genoa is darker and denser. Its narrow caruggi open onto the Strade Nuove, where the Rolli palaces hold Van Dyck and Rubens in painted halls, and Staglieno's marble cemetery and the old harbour add a maritime, mercantile flavour that Bologna lacks.

Bologna goes out more. Its large student population fills Piazza Verdi and Via Petroni, Via del Pratello's taverns run late, and wine bars around the Quadrilatero follow the aperitivo, though the city goes quiet in August.

Genoa's nights are calmer and older. You get small bars around Piazza delle Erbe, waterfront drinks at the Porto Antico and beach clubs in summer, but little clubbing and sleepy weeknights.

Genoa is the outdoor city of the two. A funicular lifts you to Righi and the ring of hilltop forts, and the Portofino promontory's cliff paths and the Cinque Terre trails are a train ride away. The Beigua Geopark, kayaking, diving and whale watching round it out.

Bologna offers gentler ground: the arcaded climb to San Luca, the Colli Bolognesi, the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi and the Via degli Dei to Florence. Real mountains are an hour and a half away at Corno alle Scale, and the plain to the north is flat.

Bologna is the stronger base by some way. Florence is barely half an hour by fast train, Ravenna's mosaics, Ferrara, Modena and Parma are short hops, and even Verona, Padua and Venice fit into a day.

Genoa's outings are fewer but very scenic, running along the coast to Portofino, Camogli and the Cinque Terre, or west to Finale Ligure and Albenga. Milan and Turin are within reach for a museum day. It is a coastline you explore, while Bologna gives you a whole region of art cities.

Genoa gives children more to do. The aquarium at the Porto Antico can fill half a day, and the science centre, biosphere, Galata submarine and the funiculars add more, with swimming coves nearby. The steep, dark lanes are hard work with a pushchair.

Bologna is easier on the feet, being flat, largely car-free and shaded by porticoes, but it has little aimed at children beyond climbing the Asinelli tower. Families tend to head out to Mirabilandia or the Rimini beach.

Bologna is simpler to navigate. Its compact, flat centre is walkable end to end under the arches, and the main station sits at the edge of the old town. Neither city has much metro to speak of, and Bologna has none at all.

Genoa makes you work harder, with a maze of lanes and a city that climbs steeply from the port. Its funiculars, rack railway and public lifts are part of the charm, and the coastal railway is the best way out, but buses crawl in the narrow streets.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both the best thing to take home is food. Bologna has a slight edge in range. Alongside the Quadrilatero delicatessens it has a small luxury cluster on Via Farini and in the Galleria Cavour, plus the Montagnola market and vintage shops in the university quarter.

Genoa's shopping is more craft-led. Old shops in the old town sell candied fruit and pesto, and small workshops make silver filigree and coral, while Via XX Settembre covers the mainstream names.

Genoa is a little easier on the budget. Focaccia and farinata make very cheap meals, central hotels cost less, and the lifts and funiculars are inexpensive, though the Riviera resorts and paid loungers push costs up on beach days.

In Bologna, meals and aperitivo are fair value and most sights are free. The rooms cost more, especially when a trade fair fills the city, so it pays to book early.

Bologna has the livelier musical life. The Teatro Comunale's opera season, a long jazz tradition in basement clubs and student gigs in small venues give it more to choose from on any given night, and in summer there are concerts in Piazza Maggiore.

Genoa offers a solid evening or two: opera and ballet at the Carlo Felice, Paganini concerts and the singer-songwriter tradition in small clubs. Its drama, like Bologna's, is in Italian.

Neither city is a place to unwind at the spa, and both rely on hotel spas and nearby thermal towns. Bologna is closer to the water. Castel San Pietro Terme is twenty minutes away and Porretta Terme sits in a green Apennine valley, and the slow lunch under the porticoes is its own kind of rest.

Genoa's thermal option, Acqui Terme, is over an hour away. Its calm comes from the sea instead, from the promenade and villa gardens at Nervi and long lunches in the Riviera villages.