Cortina d'Ampezzo or Florence?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Florence gives you a little more to work with. The sandy Versilia coast around Viareggio is about an hour and a half by train, so a day by the sea is possible, and there are public outdoor pools on the edge of the city.

From Cortina the Adriatic is more than two hours' drive away. The alpine lakes such as Ghedina and Pianozes are fed by snowmelt and too cold for more than a quick, bracing dip, so swimming mostly means a hotel pool.

Cortina eats better than a small resort usually does, thanks to its wealthy visitors. Ampezzan dishes such as casunziei with poppy seeds, polenta with game and barley soup are at their best on rifugio terraces. In the valley, though, the choice is narrow, and there is little street food and almost nothing cheap.

Florence has far more depth. There is bistecca and ribollita in the Oltrarno trattorie, lampredotto from street carts, and the Mercato Centrale and Sant'Ambrogio markets. Chianti Classico vineyards start just south of the city. You can eat well at every budget, as long as you avoid the set menus near the Duomo.

There is no real contest here. Cortina has a pleasant centre with its basilica and Olympic ice stadium, plus the Rimoldi art collection and two small museums that fill a wet afternoon. Its most striking history is the First World War front on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, which you reach by spending a day in the mountains.

Florence is where the Renaissance took shape. Brunelleschi's dome, the Uffizi, the David, the Bargello and the Pitti Palace are all within walking distance. Behind them come the Medici Chapels, the Brancacci Chapel and Santa Croce, and together they can fill a week.

Florence has the livelier evenings, though neither city is a place for dancing until dawn. Its nights run from aperitivo to wine bars, with crowds spilling across Piazza Santo Spirito, a more local scene around Sant'Ambrogio and outdoor bars along the Arno in summer.

Cortina's evenings are about après-ski drinks, the passeggiata on the Corso Italia and long dinners. Late bars and a club or two only open in the peak winter weeks, and for most of summer the town is asleep by late evening.

This is where Cortina pulls far ahead. The Tofane, Cristallo and Cinque Torri rise around the valley, the lifts start in town, and the Tre Cime and the Fanes-Sennes-Braies park are close. You get skiing on the Dolomiti Superski area in winter and some of the oldest via ferrata routes in the Alps in summer.

Florence's outdoors is softer and more cultivated. There are olive terraces at Fiesole, cycling lanes through the Chianti hills, and the forests of the Casentino about an hour and a half away. It makes for lovely walking in spring and autumn, but it is not high-mountain country.

Florence has one of the best choices of day trips anywhere. Siena, Pisa and Lucca are about an hour away, Bologna is under forty minutes by high-speed train, and San Gimignano, Volterra and the Val d'Orcia towns are within reach. You could fill a week without repeating a trip.

From Cortina, most outings head into the mountains. The towns within range are charming rather than essential: San Candido and Brunico in South Tyrol, Bolzano with the Iceman about two hours away, and Belluno or Lienz. Venice means a long day on the coach.

The two are close for families, but they suit different kinds of family. Cortina works for active children: there are ski schools and beginner slopes at Socrepes, public skating at the Olympic stadium, a forest rope park and easy walks to huts with meadows to run around in. Wet days and the cost are the weak points.

Florence wins children over with climbs up the dome and bell tower, secret passages in Palazzo Vecchio, the Boboli Gardens and the Pinocchio park at Collodi. Its crowds and summer heat are harder on small legs than Cortina's mountain air.

Florence is much easier. Its main sights are all within about twenty minutes' walk of each other, and trams link the airport and suburbs. Santa Maria Novella station sits in the centre for rail trips across Tuscany, and you only need a car for the hill villages.

Cortina's small centre is easy on foot, and ski buses and lifts work well in winter. The railway closed in 1964, though, so you arrive by coach from Venice or by a long drive. Buses up to the passes are limited, and most visitors end up hiring a car.

Florence offers more, and most of it is made locally. There is leather from market stalls and small workshops, marbled paper, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, gilders and restorers in the Oltrarno, antiques on Via Maggio and fashion houses on Via de' Tornabuoni.

Cortina's shopping is one polished street, the Corso Italia, with luxury fashion, furriers and upmarket ski wear. The historic Cooperativa store, wood carving and filigree add some local character, but once you leave that strip there is little else.

Neither is cheap, but Florence is the easier one to do on a budget. Hotels in the centre are expensive, and museum tickets add up. Street-stall lampredotto, market lunches and cheap house wine keep daily costs down, though, and you walk almost everywhere.

Cortina is among Italy's most expensive places to stay, with luxury prices in hotels and restaurants, plus lift passes and equipment hire. Rifugio meals and the quieter weeks of June and late September help. Even so, many budget travellers sleep in cheaper valleys nearby and drive in.

Florence has a real season. Opera was more or less born here around 1600, and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino stages opera, concerts and ballet. The spring Maggio Musicale is one of Europe's oldest festivals, and the Pergola is a fine eighteenth-century theatre, although its plays are in Italian.

Cortina has no theatre season or regular venue. Its music comes from summer chamber and classical festivals in churches, halls and sometimes on the mountainsides, plus the odd concert around New Year.

Rest comes in different forms in these two places. Cortina's comes from its hotels, many with Alpine spas offering saunas, hay baths and indoor pools, and from the clear, calm air of June and September. Peak-season traffic spoils that calm.

Florence itself has little beyond hotel spas, and its summer crowds are not restful. Its strength is close by: Montecatini Terme is under an hour by train, the open-air sulphur pools at Saturnia and Bagno Vignoni lie further south, and you can slow right down with a few nights on a Tuscan farm.