Como or Lecce?

In Como a swim is a summer extra. You use lidos with lawns and pontoons, the best known beside Villa Olmo, or small pebble jetties in the villages up the lake, reached by ferry. There is little sand and the season is short.

Lecce is inland, but the Salento coast lies on both sides of it: pale coves and sea stacks at Torre dell'Orso to the east, and long, shallow sandy beaches at Punta Prosciutto on the Ionian side. Here the beach can shape the whole stay, as long as you have transport and avoid the most famous spots in August.

Como cooks from the lake and the mountains: perch risotto, missoltini, and polenta with game or valley cheese. Its best meals tend to be in family-run places up the lake, not on the waterfront terraces where you pay for the view.

Lecce has the more distinctive day of eating, from a warm pasticciotto with almond-milk iced coffee at breakfast to ciceri e tria and orecchiette with turnip tops at dinner, with dark Negroamaro in the glass. It is cheaper as well, though neither city offers much beyond its own regional cooking.

Como has few sights, but they are good ones: the marble cathedral, the Romanesque churches of San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio, and Terragni's Casa del Fascio, which draws architects from far away. One day is enough for all of them.

Lecce has more to see, and its old town holds together as a whole. It is a Baroque townscape carved in honey-coloured stone, with Santa Croce, the enclosed Piazza del Duomo and half a Roman amphitheatre below the main square. Its pleasure lies in walking the streets, since its museums are modest.

Neither city is made for clubbing, but Lecce stays out later. Students fill the wine and cocktail bars in the old-town lanes at weekends, and in summer the dancing moves to beach clubs around Gallipoli. Como winds down after dinner and a walk along the lake, and anyone after a big night takes the train to Milan.

Como has the scenery Lecce lacks: steep wooded mountains dropping into a glacial lake. You can walk along the ridge from Brunate to the Volta lighthouse, follow the Greenway del Lago between villages, or cycle up the climbs to the Madonna del Ghisallo chapel.

Around Lecce the outdoors is the coast, because the land inland is a flat plain of olive groves. There are clifftop paths from Roca Vecchia towards Leuca, boat trips into sea caves, birdwatching in the Le Cesine wetlands, and good snorkelling and diving. Lecce suits a trip spent in the sea, and Como suits walking with mountain views.

Both cities make good bases, but Como's list is longer and easier to manage. Ferries reach Bellagio, Varenna and the gardens of Villa Carlotta and Balbianello without a car, and trains put the Last Supper in Milan, Lugano's lakefront and the upper town of Bergamo within an easy day.

Lecce opens up the Salento: the mosaic floor in Otranto cathedral, Gallipoli's old town on its island, and further north Ostuni and the trulli of Alberobello. Most of these trips need a car, and the longer ones take close to two hours each way.

The two are about equal for families. Both are calm with children, and neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park worth the trip. The difference lies in how the days go. Como offers boat rides, the funicular and a paddle at a lido, while Lecce has traffic-free piazzas in the evening, shallow sandy beaches at Porto Cesareo and a long midday rest in the summer heat.

Both centres are flat and easy to walk. Como's advantage lies beyond its walls. Ferries reach every village on the lake and trains run to Milan and Lugano, so a car is optional, even if the slow boats and crowded shore roads test your patience in summer.

In Lecce the fast trains run north to Brindisi and Bari, but the local Salento railways are slow and the beach buses run only in summer. Most visitors end up hiring a car and parking outside the walls.

Como has one thing worth seeking out: silk. Scarves, ties and fabric are sold in old-town shops and at the mill outlets, and there is a short run of Italian boutiques, with Milan close by for serious fashion shopping. Lecce's buys are craft rather than style: cartapesta saints from old-town workshops, small limestone carvings and Grottaglie ceramics, plus olive oil and taralli to take home.

Lecce is far kinder to your wallet. Simple osterie, local wine and B&Bs in old palazzi are fairly priced for most of the year. August is the exception, when rooms and beach loungers get expensive and a hire car adds to the bill.

Como draws an international luxury crowd, and the lakeside hotels and terrace restaurants charge for the setting. Staying back from the water, eating in the hills and travelling in spring or autumn all bring the cost down, and the trains and ferries are cheap.

Como's stage is an opera house: the neoclassical Teatro Sociale near the cathedral, with opera, ballet, concerts and theatre through the season. In summer it moves outdoors to the Arena beside it, and chamber concerts fill Romanesque churches and lakeside villas. If you want more, La Scala is a short train ride away.

Lecce's signature sound comes from the villages, not the theatre. Pizzica, the fast tambourine dance of the Salento, is played at festivals all summer and reaches its height at the Notte della Taranta in Melpignano in August. The Politeama Greco and Paisiello have a smaller formal season, and outside the summer months there is less to choose from.

Como's spas are in its grand lakeside villa hotels, with a few day spas in town, and most of the rest comes from the place itself: still water, gardens running down to the shore and slow ferry rides. Spring and autumn suit this best, as the lakefront gets busy in midsummer.

Lecce has something Como lacks, a place to take the waters. The sulphur springs of Santa Cesarea Terme are in grottoes and pools on the cliffs above the sea, under an hour away, and old masserie on the plain have become quiet country retreats with spas. Back in town, the long afternoon rest slows the day down.