Como or Palermo?

This is where Palermo pulls furthest ahead. Mondello gives it a proper sandy bay with shallow, clear water half an hour from the centre. There is also rock swimming towards Capo Gallo, and Cefalù's long beach is a train ride away.

Como has almost no sand. A swim there means lawns and pontoons at the Villa Olmo lido or pebble jetties in villages up the lake, and only in high summer.

Palermo is one of Italy's great street-food cities. Fryers in Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria turn out panelle and arancine, and sfincione is sold from vans. Dishes like pasta con le sarde carry the city's Arab past, and the pastry runs from cannoli to brioche with granita.

Como cooks well within a narrower range: perch risotto, missoltini and polenta, best eaten in family places up the lake, plus an aperitivo on the cathedral squares. There is little to eat on the move, and the lakefront terraces trade on the view.

Palermo has far more to see. Its UNESCO-listed Arab-Norman route, where Byzantine gold mosaics meet carved Islamic ceilings in the Palatine Chapel, sits alongside baroque oratories and two strong museums, the Salinas and Palazzo Abatellis.

Como fills a good single day. It has a marble cathedral, the Romanesque San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio, and the Volta museum. Terragni's Casa del Fascio is the one sight architects cross borders to see.

Palermo stays out late and Como goes to bed early. At night the Vucciria in Palermo turns into an open-air bar, and the Kalsa and the lanes off Via Maqueda fill up after a late dinner. In summer the dancing moves out to Mondello.

Como offers an aperitivo, a long meal and a few wine bars around Piazza Duomo, and young locals take the train to Milan for anything bigger. Neither city has much of a club scene.

Both cities sit right under mountains, but Como's setting is the stronger and easier to use. The funicular lifts you to Brunate's ridge trails in minutes, and the Greenway and the Via dei Monti Lariani run above the shore. The lake itself is there for kayaking, sailing and paddling, all without a car.

Palermo has Monte Pellegrino on its doorstep and snorkelling off Capo Gallo. Its wilder places, the Zingaro coast and the Madonie peaks, are excellent, but most of them need a car, and summer heat makes walking hard.

Both are superb bases, and the difference is in what you go out to see. From Como you travel by boat and train: ferries to Bellagio, Varenna and the villas of Tremezzo, the Last Supper in Milan about forty minutes away, and Lugano just across the Swiss border.

Palermo's excursions lean towards the ancient and the Norman. Monreale's mosaics are close by and Cefalù is a train ride away. Segesta, Erice, Agrigento and Selinunte lie further out, and a hire car makes those much easier.

Neither city is built for children, and they come out about even. Como is calmer and gentler on a pushchair, with the funicular, boat rides and the Villa Olmo gardens. Palermo has the better beach for small children at Mondello, puppet shows and a warm welcome in restaurants late into the evening, but it also has hot summers and narrow lanes without pavements.

Como is the easier of the two. Its flat old town and lakefront are a short walk apart, and trains reach Milan and Lugano without fuss. Ferries reach every village, though slowly, and in summer they often beat the clogged shore roads.

You can walk Palermo's centre along Via Maqueda and the Corso, but the side lanes are crowded with scooters and parked cars, and the buses crawl. Driving is stressful, even though a car is the easiest way to reach the ancient sites.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is in what you take home. Como means silk: scarves, ties and fabric from specialists in the old town and the mill outlets, with Milan close by for fashion. Palermo offers painted ceramics, marionettes from the puppet workshops, coral jewellery, and spices and pistachio pesto from the markets, while its fashion shops line Via Libertà.

Palermo is much kinder to a budget. A market lunch of panelle and arancine, dinner in a trattoria and a guesthouse in the old centre all cost far less than in the north, and only July and August push prices up noticeably.

Como attracts a luxury crowd to the lakeside and charges accordingly, especially in summer. Staying back from the water, eating in old-town trattorias and getting around by train and ferry all help, but it remains the more expensive stay.

Palermo has the bigger stage. The huge Teatro Massimo runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, and the Politeama is home to the Sicilian symphony orchestra. The Opera dei Pupi puppet theatres are a Sicilian tradition worth an evening on their own.

Como's Teatro Sociale is a handsome early nineteenth-century house with an open-air summer Arena, and there are chamber concerts in villas and churches. Many nights are quiet, though, and serious music lovers take the train to La Scala.

Como makes calm easy to find. The lakefront promenade is a few minutes' walk from the cathedral. The gardens of Villa Olmo lie about 2km along the western shore, a gentle twenty-minute stroll beside the water, and the funicular takes you up to Brunate and the quieter paths on the ridge. Spring and autumn are the most restful seasons, because the lakefront fills up in midsummer. Como has no thermal springs.

Palermo's centre rarely goes quiet, so rest there comes in pockets and habits: the long afternoon break, the evening walk along the Foro Italico, and an hour in a cloister or among the palms of the Orto Botanico. Thermal waters are within reach, at Termini Imerese about forty minutes east by train and at Sciacca on the south coast, but both mean leaving the city. Visitors who want deep rest usually stay in a country house or on the coast outside town.