Bologna or Taormina?

Taormina has the sea right below it. A cable car drops to the coves at Mazzarò and Isola Bella, where the clear water is good for snorkelling, and there are longer stretches of sand and shingle at Giardini Naxos and Letojanni. The beaches near town are small and pebbly, and the good spots fill early in summer.

Bologna is inland on the Po plain, so swimming means a day trip to the organised lidos of the Romagna coast, where the water is shallower and greener than the Ionian. It works as an escape from the August heat, not as a reason to go.

Bologna is one of the great places to eat in Italy. You get tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini and mortadella in old osterie, fresh pasta rolled by hand in shop windows and the delicatessens of the Quadrilatero, with Parma and Modena close by. Its weakness is range, since almost everything is Emilian and rich.

Taormina's Sicilian cooking has its own appeal, from pasta alla Norma and raw red prawns to granita with brioche for breakfast and wines from Etna. But it is a small resort, many places on the main street serve tourist menus, and good everyday meals take some finding in the side streets or down in Giardini Naxos.

Bologna has enough to fill several days. Its medieval centre of brick and porticoes is almost complete, and around it are Piazza Maggiore and San Petronio, the Two Towers, the seven churches of Santo Stefano, the anatomical theatre of Europe's oldest university and a strong gallery of Bolognese painting.

Taormina has one great sight, the Greek theatre with Etna behind its stage, and a pretty Corso lined with medieval palaces that show Arab and Norman influences. It makes a lovely day of walking rather than a culture trip, and there are no major museums.

Bologna's students make its nights much livelier. Crowds gather outside the cheap bars of Piazza Verdi, the taverns along Via del Pratello stay open late, and wine bars follow the aperitivo hour, though the clubs are out of town and August goes quiet.

Taormina's evenings are a stroll along the Corso, a drink on a terrace and a piano bar, plus a few beach clubs in summer. They suit couples, not anyone who wants to dance.

Taormina is the much stronger base for the outdoors. Within an hour Etna offers lava flows, the Silvestri craters, guided trips towards the summit and even skiing in winter. The Alcantara gorges are closer still, and the marine reserve at Isola Bella adds snorkelling, kayaking and diving.

Bologna's outdoors are gentler: the walk up to San Luca, the Colli Bolognesi, the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi and the Via degli Dei trail to Florence. The higher Apennines at Corno alle Scale are further off, and in both places the summer heat means walking is best in spring and autumn.

Both are good bases, but Bologna's rail junction is hard to beat. Florence is about half an hour away, while Ravenna's mosaics, Ferrara, Modena and Parma are short regional train rides. Venice, Verona and Padua are each about an hour and a half away, so you could see a different city every day for a week without moving hotel.

Taormina's outings are fewer and slower, often by coach or car, but they reward the effort. Baroque Catania, Ortigia and the Greek theatre at Syracuse, Noto with an early start, and the hill villages of Castelmola, Savoca and Forza d'Agrò are all within reach.

Neither city is built around children, but Bologna is the easier of the two. Its centre is flat and mostly closed to cars, the porticoes give shade, older children can climb the Asinelli tower, and Mirabilandia or the beach at Rimini make a day out.

In Taormina, the steep steps and hotels aimed at couples make things harder with small children. School-age children will still love snorkelling at Isola Bella and seeing the lava fields on Etna, and many families stay down in Giardini Naxos instead.

Bologna is the easier place to get around. The centre is flat and compact and can be walked under the porticoes, buses run up into the hills, and the central station puts the rest of northern Italy within reach. There is no metro, but you will hardly need one.

Taormina's centre is just as easy to cover on foot, but it sits on a slope, so every outing involves steps. The cable car reaches the beaches and trains run along the coast, but for Etna and the inland villages you realistically need a tour or a hired car.

Bologna has more choice, though food is still what most people take home: mortadella, Parmigiano and balsamic vinegar from the Quadrilatero. There are also high-street chains on Via dell'Indipendenza, a small cluster of luxury shops around the Galleria Cavour and the Montagnola market.

In Taormina, shopping means one street of coral, cameos, lace and Caltagirone ceramics, mostly aimed at visitors. Pistachio cream and Etna wine are the better things to take home.

Rooms take a large share of the budget in both places. Bologna's old-town hotels are priced like the rest of prosperous northern Italy and get scarce when a trade fair is on, and Taormina's sea-view hotels push a summer stay higher still. The real gap shows once you step outside. In Bologna, a trattoria dinner or an aperitivo with food included costs less than in Italy's main tourist cities, and the churches, squares and porticoes that make up most of the sightseeing are free.

In Taormina, the restaurants and bars along the Corso charge resort prices, and its one great sight, the Greek theatre, has an entry fee. A morning granita or arancini from a bakery stays cheap, and sleeping down in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni, or coming in spring or autumn, takes some of the sting out of the room bill.

Bologna's scene runs most of the year. There is opera, ballet and concerts at the Teatro Comunale, jazz most nights in small basement clubs, student gigs, and outdoor concerts and films in Piazza Maggiore in summer.

Taormina has one great stage, the Greek theatre, where summer concerts and opera play with Etna behind. Out of season there is little beyond piano bars and the occasional chamber concert.

The two are about level here, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own. Bologna's thermal water lies outside the city, at Castel San Pietro Terme and the old Apennine spa town of Porretta Terme, while the city itself can be noisy and heavy in summer.

In Taormina, relaxing means hotel spas on terraces above the sea, treatments with volcanic mud and evenings watching the light change on Etna. It is calmest in May, June and late September, not in August when crowds fill the Corso.