Bologna or La Spezia?

Neither city has a beach in town, but the sea is far closer to La Spezia and much better. Buses and trains reach the sheltered sand and pebble of San Terenzo and Lerici, the coves at Fiascherino and Tellaro, rocky swimming in very clear water off Palmaria, and the long sandy beach at Monterosso.

From Bologna the nearest sea is the Romagna Riviera, an hour away by train, where the Adriatic is warm and shallow but often greenish, and the shore is lined with rows of rented umbrellas. That works as a day out in a heatwave, not as a reason to come.

Bologna is one of the places Italian food travellers come for. Hand-rolled tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in brodo and mortadella are made in old osterie, the Quadrilatero lanes are full of delicatessens, and Parmigiano and Parma ham are made less than an hour away.

La Spezia eats more simply and more by the sea: farinata from wood ovens, mesciua soup, pesto on trofie, and stuffed mussels from the ropes off Portovenere, with crisp Cinque Terre whites to drink. It is honest, good-value cooking, lighter in summer than Bologna's, but the range is that of a provincial port.

Bologna is the sightseeing city of the two by a long way. Its red-brick medieval core, UNESCO-listed porticoes, the Two Towers, the seven churches of Santo Stefano and the anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio need two or three days.

La Spezia was built in the nineteenth century as a naval base, with straight avenues and Liberty facades rather than an old core. The Museo Amedeo Lia and the Lunigiana stele statues in the Castello San Giorgio are worth a morning each, but most of the region's history lies out along the coast.

Both cities have a Piazza Verdi, and the difference between them sums up the gap. In Bologna it is the heart of the student quarter, crowded outside cheap bars late into the night, and Via del Pratello carries on with taverns and pubs until late. The exception is August, when the students leave.

In La Spezia the evening is an aperitivo on Via del Prione or the seafront, perhaps moving to the waterfront bars at Lerici in summer, and then the town goes to bed. Most visitors there want to be up early for the trails anyway.

This is La Spezia's strongest card. Vine and olive terraces drop into the sea along the Cinque Terre national park, with the Sentiero Azzurro and the quieter ridge paths above it, Palmaria's forts and sea caves, the pine woods of Montemarcello, and the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps an hour inland. Kayaking and diving in the gulf add to it.

Bologna's outdoors is gentler: the arcaded climb to San Luca, the Colli Bolognesi, the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi, and the Via degli Dei across the Apennines to Florence for those with several days.

Both are excellent bases, but Bologna has the wider reach. As northern Italy's rail junction it puts Florence half an hour away and Ravenna, Ferrara, Modena and Parma within easy regional rides, with Verona, Padua and Venice also doable in a day. That makes a run of great art cities possible from one hotel.

La Spezia's trips are mostly coast and villages: the five Cinque Terre villages minutes away by train, Portovenere by boat, walled Sarzana and Roman Luni inland, with Pisa and Lucca about an hour off. Florence is only just possible from there in a long day.

Neither city does much better with children than the other, and neither has a zoo or aquarium, but the days look different. Bologna's flat, largely car-free centre and shady porticoes are easy to walk, and climbing the Asinelli tower or adding a day at Mirabilandia gives older children some excitement.

La Spezia's best family days are on the water, with boat trips round Portovenere and shallow beaches at San Terenzo. Its steep villages and crowded summer trains are harder with toddlers.

Both are compact, flat, walkable towns where a car is more trouble than it is worth, and neither has a metro. Bologna has a slight edge: its porticoes give shade and cover from the rain, and fast trains leave the central station for all of northern Italy.

La Spezia works well as a hub too, with coastal trains, buses round the gulf and seasonal ferries to the villages. In summer, though, the Cinque Terre trains and platforms get crowded, which slows down the very trips most visitors came for.

In both cities the things to take home are mostly edible, but Bologna offers more to browse. Besides the Quadrilatero delicatessens there are luxury houses on Via Farini and in the Galleria Cavour, the Montagnola market and weekend antiques in Piazza Santo Stefano.

La Spezia's Via del Prione and Corso Cavour are lined with everyday chains and a few boutiques, so the real finds are pesto, Sciacchetrà, Monterosso anchovies and Carrara marble from the towns nearby.

Overall costs are similar, but the money goes in different places. In Bologna eating out is the bargain and most sights are free churches and squares, while hotels in the old town are expensive, especially during trade fairs.

La Spezia is the cheaper place to sleep near the Cinque Terre, and its trains and buses cost little. However, trail passes, boat trips and bathing establishments add up, and summer rooms cost noticeably more than in spring or autumn.

Bologna is a real music city. The Teatro Comunale is one of Italy's historic opera houses, jazz plays in basement clubs most nights, students fill small venues with indie gigs, and in summer there are concerts and screenings in Piazza Maggiore.

La Spezia has the Teatro Civico, a long-running summer jazz festival and open-air concerts in castle courtyards around the gulf. For most of the year there is little on, and for opera you have to go to Genoa or Pisa.

Neither is a spa destination, but Bologna has thermal water closer to hand: the spring-fed pools of Castel San Pietro Terme are twenty minutes away, and old Porretta Terme lies in an Apennine valley. La Spezia's nearest baths, at Equi Terme, are an hour inland. Its calm comes instead from the slow pace of Palmaria and a long lunch in Tellaro outside the summer season.