Bologna or Syracuse, Sicily?

Bologna is inland. A swim means an hour on the train to the Romagna Riviera, where rented sunbeds line a shallow, often greenish Adriatic. It is a day out to escape the heat, not part of the stay.

In Syracuse the sea is at the end of the street. On Ortigia people swim from platforms beneath the old walls in clear Ionian water, Arenella and Fontane Bianche have sand for families, and Vendicari has undeveloped beaches about forty minutes south. You will want a car for the best of them.

Bologna has the stronger food. Hand-rolled tagliatelle, tortellini in brodo and mortadella belong to the city's own tradition, the Quadrilatero lanes work as a food market, and Parmigiano, Parma ham and balsamic come from towns nearby.

Syracuse cooks from the sea and the citrus groves: swordfish, pasta with sea urchin, raw prawns, and almond granita with brioche for breakfast. It is lighter and better suited to hot weather than Bologna's ragù, though neither city offers much beyond its own regional cooking.

These two are evenly matched for sights, and each needs two or three days, but they come from very different eras. Bologna is a whole medieval city in brick, with UNESCO-listed porticoes, the Two Towers and the Santo Stefano churches, all bound up with Europe's oldest university.

Syracuse goes back to ancient Greece. Temple columns are built into the cathedral, a theatre is cut into the rock of the Neapolis park, and the city has one of Italy's finest archaeological museums, with baroque Ortigia and a Caravaggio layered on top.

Bologna's students give it the livelier nights: crowds outside cheap bars around Piazza Verdi, late taverns along Via del Pratello, and aperitivo that moves on to wine bars, though the city empties in August. Syracuse offers a gentler evening of a drink on the sea walls and a stroll between Ortigia's small bars. Summer adds a few beach clubs, and from November to March most nights end early.

Bologna has pleasant hill walking close to the centre, up to San Luca and through the Colli Bolognesi, and the Via degli Dei trail starts there for Florence. North of the city, though, the plain is flat farmland.

Syracuse has more to do outdoors. There are green pools at the bottom of the Cavagrande del Cassibile gorge, flamingos on the Vendicari lagoons, snorkelling in the Plemmirio marine reserve and kayaking around Ortigia, and Etna is close enough for a day trip. In both cities, summer heat pushes walking into spring and autumn.

Both make excellent bases, but Bologna's rail junction gives it the edge. Florence is about half an hour away, Ravenna, Ferrara, Modena and Parma are close, and Venice and Verona still fit into a day, all without a car.

Syracuse's outings are just as rewarding: the baroque towns of Noto, Modica and Ragusa Ibla, with Catania and Taormina to the north. There are fewer of them, though, and most are far easier with a hire car than on the slow buses.

Neither city is built around children, and neither has a zoo or aquarium, so the difference lies in how the days are filled. Bologna offers a flat, shaded centre mostly closed to cars, a tower to climb and an outing to the Mirabilandia theme park. Syracuse has gently shelving sandy beaches, papyrus boat trips and puppet shows, which make summer slightly easier with small children, though the heat in July and August is hard work in both.

Bologna is far easier without a car. The centre is flat and walkable under the porticoes, buses reach the hills, and the station on the edge of the old town has trains to the rest of northern Italy.

In Syracuse, Ortigia is easy on foot and the archaeological park is a short taxi ride away. Beyond that, buses are infrequent and trains slow, so reaching the beaches, the gorges and the baroque towns realistically means hiring a car for part of the stay.

Bologna gives you more to browse: food from the Quadrilatero delicatessens, chains on Via dell'Indipendenza, a small cluster of luxury houses around Via Farini and the Galleria Cavour, and the Montagnola market. Syracuse is smaller and centred on crafts. Ortigia's lanes have Sicilian ceramics, coral jewellery and papyrus paintings, and the market sells capers and pistachio products, but there is no luxury street at all.

Syracuse is the easier city on a budget. Arancini, granita, simple trattoria meals and local wine all cost less than in the north, and mainland rooms outside summer are good value, though car hire adds to the bill and Ortigia in August is dear.

In Bologna, food is reasonably priced for northern Italy and most sights are free, but hotels in the old town are expensive, and rooms become scarce and costly during the big trade fairs.

Bologna has a year-round programme, with opera, ballet and concerts at the historic Teatro Comunale, jazz in basement clubs most nights and student gigs in small venues. Syracuse has one great occasion: Greek drama performed in the ancient theatre each late spring and early summer. Beyond that and the Sicilian puppet theatre, there is little on for the rest of the year.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, and in both you rest by slowing down rather than at a spa. Bologna's advantage is thermal water nearby, at Castel San Pietro Terme and in the Apennine spa town of Porretta Terme. Syracuse offers the calm of Ortigia outside high summer, with walks on the sea walls and sunsets over the harbour, though August crowds take much of that away.