Florence or Palermo?

Florence is inland, and swimming means a pool or a long day out to the sandy Versilia coast around Viareggio. The sea is not really part of a stay there.

Palermo has a proper beach within easy reach. Mondello's pale sand and clear, shallow water are a short bus ride from the centre, and there is deep-water rock swimming towards Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo. Cefalù's long town beach is an easy train trip as well. You won't swim from the city's own harbour front, but a morning at the sea fits easily around sightseeing.

Both cities eat well at stalls and in family trattorie, but Palermo has the edge. Its markets at Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria turn street food into a whole evening of panelle, arancine and sfincione. The cooking carries Arab flavours of saffron, raisins and pine nuts, and the sweets, from cannoli to granita with brioche, are an attraction in their own right.

Florence's food is plainer and built on meat, bread and beans: bistecca, ribollita, and lampredotto from the carts. Its strength is wine, with Chianti Classico on the doorstep. You eat best in the Oltrarno and around Sant'Ambrogio, away from the set menus near the Duomo.

Florence has the deeper collection of art. Brunelleschi's dome, the Uffizi, Michelangelo's David, the Bargello and the Pitti Palace make it the place to see the Renaissance at full strength, and the smaller sights such as San Marco and the Brancacci Chapel could fill a week on their own.

Palermo offers something rarer, though less of it. The Arab-Norman churches, the Palatine Chapel with its gold mosaics and Islamic ceiling, the baroque oratories and the Salinas museum show a meeting of cultures you won't find in Tuscany. The setting is rougher, with a crumbling old centre around the monuments.

Palermo stays out later and louder. The Vucciria becomes an open-air drinking spot after dark, the Kalsa fills with wine and cocktail bars, and on warm nights the streets are still busy past midnight. In summer the dancing moves to beach venues around Mondello.

Florence's evenings are calmer: aperitivo, dinner and a late glass of wine around Santo Spirito or Sant'Ambrogio, plus student pubs near the centre. Neither city has much of a club scene.

Palermo has the wilder scenery. Monte Pellegrino rises straight above the city, Capo Gallo has cliff paths and snorkelling, the Zingaro reserve has a coastal trail past coves, and the Madonie mountains reach close to 2,000m.

Florence's surroundings are gentler and more cultivated. There are olive terraces at Fiesole, cypress lanes and vineyards in Chianti that are ideal for cycling, and the Casentino forests further out. It is lovely walking country, though there is no coast or high mountain landscape to match Sicily's.

Florence has more first-rank towns within easy reach. Bologna is under forty minutes by high-speed train, Pisa about an hour, and walled Lucca a little more, while Siena is an easy bus ride. San Gimignano's towers, Volterra and the Chianti wine villages such as Greve and Radda are a different matter, and you will want a car or a tour for those. From Florence you could spend a week on outings and never repeat one.

Palermo has fine excursions too, though fewer of them sit close by. Monreale's mosaics are half an hour up the hill, Cefalù is an hour away by train, and there are the lone temple at Segesta and Erice above the salt pans. Agrigento and Selinunte are about two hours away, and most of the ancient sites are much easier with a hire car.

Neither city is easy with small children, and both rely on gelato and patience. Florence's appeal for children is hands-on: climbing the dome, the secret passages of Palazzo Vecchio, the Boboli Gardens and the Pinocchio park at Collodi.

Palermo's best card is Mondello's shallow sandy bay, along with the puppet shows, and families are welcome in restaurants late into the evening. Its lanes without pavements and its heavy traffic are harder on a pushchair than Florence's crowded but orderly centre.

Florence is far easier to get around. The major sights are all a short walk apart, Santa Maria Novella station sits in the centre for day trips, and trams and small buses cover the rest. Narrow pavements and summer crowds are the main nuisances.

Palermo's centre is walkable along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, but the side lanes mean dodging scooters and parked cars. Buses are slow in traffic, driving is stressful, and yet a car is still the practical way to reach Segesta or the interior.

Florence is a city for buying well-made things. It has leather workshops, bookbinders and marbled paper, jewellers on the Ponte Vecchio, artisan restorers in the Oltrarno, and luxury labels on Via de' Tornabuoni. Look closely at the leather, as some of it is mass-produced.

Palermo's shopping is more modest: fashion along Via Libertà, painted ceramics, marionettes, coral jewellery and edible souvenirs such as capers and pistachio pesto from the markets.

Palermo is clearly the cheaper stay. You can make a meal of street food, trattorie and local wine cost far less than in the north, and old-centre guesthouses are fairly priced for most of the year. Only July and August at the seaside push costs up.

Florence is expensive for its size. Central hotels and the admission fees at the big museums add up over a few days. Street food, market lunches and walking everywhere help, but it rarely feels cheap.

The two are much alike, each built around a serious opera house. Florence has the Maggio Musicale, one of Europe's oldest music festivals, in the city where opera was born. Many visitors there end up at church concerts staged for tourists.

Palermo has the grand Teatro Massimo, where tickets are easy to get, a long-standing jazz following, and the Opera dei Pupi, armoured marionettes in small family theatres. The puppets have no equivalent in Florence and make a memorable evening.

Florence offers a little more calm. The Boboli and Bardini gardens and quiet Oltrarno evenings give some respite, and Montecatini Terme, a grand spa town, is under an hour by train. Further south, the sulphur pools and farm stays of the Tuscan countryside are the classic way to unwind.

Palermo is noisier, with scooters and market cries. Its quiet corners are the cloisters, the Orto Botanico and the seafront walk at the Foro Italico, and its nearest thermal baths are at Termini Imerese.