Florence or Turin?

Neither city is a place to swim, and from both the sea means a long day out. From Florence the train reaches the broad sandy beaches of the Versilia around Viareggio in about an hour and a half, where rows of rented loungers and umbrellas line the shore. From Turin the Ligurian Riviera at Savona and Varazze takes a little longer.

What Turin has instead is lake water. Avigliana and Viverone are close enough for a summer swim, and Lago Maggiore is further off. In Florence, visitors cool off in hotel pools and the public pools on the edge of the city.

Both cities eat well, but Turin's table is richer and more varied. It has agnolotti del plin, tajarin, vitello tonnato and white truffles from the Langhe in autumn, with Barolo on every wine list. Vermouth and the aperitivo began here, and the historic cafés serve gianduiotto chocolates and bicerin.

Florence cooks more plainly, with bistecca, bread soups and Chianti, but it wins on street food. Lampredotto carts and the Mercato Centrale and Sant'Ambrogio markets offer something Turin barely has. Its tourist menus around the Duomo mean eating well takes more care, and the Oltrarno trattorie are the place to go.

For art, Florence is in a different league. The Uffizi, the Accademia's David, the Bargello's sculpture, Brunelleschi's dome and the frescoes of San Marco and the Brancacci Chapel form a body of Renaissance work that no other city matches, and there is enough to fill a week.

Turin offers something different rather than more. It has the Museo Egizio, one of the great Egyptian collections, the baroque Savoy palaces including Venaria, the Cinema Museum inside the Mole and the industrial history told at Lingotto and the car museum. It rewards a few well-paced days, without the queues and advance booking that Florence's big museums demand.

Turin has the livelier evenings. After a generous aperitivo, people move on to the small cocktail bars of the Quadrilatero Romano, the pavement crowds of San Salvario or the more alternative Vanchiglia. In summer there is the riverside Murazzi, and a few clubs occupy old industrial buildings.

In Florence the evening is more about a long dinner and a late glass of wine. Drinkers spill out of the bars on Piazza Santo Spirito, summer bars open along the Arno, and the club scene is small. Neither city goes as late as a big capital, but Turin keeps going a little longer.

Turin pulls well ahead here, because the Alps are on its horizon and only an hour or an hour and a half away. There are ibex and high trails in the Gran Paradiso, hut-to-hut hiking in the Susa valley and skiing around Sestriere in winter. Closer to town, the hill paths to Superga, the deer of the Mandria park and the cycle paths along the Po fill a free afternoon.

Florence's countryside is gentler and more cultivated: olive terraces at Fiesole, cypress-lined lanes in Chianti for walking and cycling, and the Casentino forests further out. It is lovely in spring and autumn, but it has no high mountain country to compare with Turin's.

Both cities make good bases, but Florence has the longer list of famous places. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano, Volterra and the Chianti villages are all close, Bologna is under forty minutes by fast train, and the Val d'Orcia lies further south. Many of the main towns can be reached by rail or bus.

Turin's days out lean towards wine and mountains: Alba and Barolo in the Langhe, Asti and the Monferrato hills, and the Sacra di San Michele above the Susa valley. Milan is an hour away, and Genoa and Aosta about two. The choice is strong, but there are fewer of the big-name towns, and the wine villages are much easier by car.

Turin is the easier city with children. Its flat grid and long arcades suit pushchairs and give shelter from both rain and sun, and crowds are rarely heavy. Children tend to enjoy the glass lift up the Mole, the car museum, the Egizio's mummies and the rack railway to Superga, and the Zoom park at Cumiana makes a full day out.

Florence welcomes children, but its sights are made for adults. The pavements are narrow, the summer streets are packed and July is fiercely hot. Climbing the dome, the secret passages of Palazzo Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens help, and the Pinocchio park at Collodi is the classic outing.

Florence is the easier city to cover on foot. The Duomo, the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, the Accademia and the Pitti Palace are all within about twenty minutes of one another, and Santa Maria Novella station is right in the centre for day trips. The downsides are narrow pavements and crowded summer streets.

Turin's flat, arcaded grid is pleasant to walk, but places such as Lingotto and Venaria lie well outside it. Beyond the centre you rely on a single metro line and on trams and buses that are slower and take some working out.

Florence is the better place to buy things made by hand. Leather comes from the San Lorenzo stalls and the Oltrarno workshops, and there is marbled paper, gold from the jewellers on the Ponte Vecchio and luxury fashion on Via de' Tornabuoni. Look closely, though, because some of the leather is mass-produced.

Turin's best buys are edible: chocolate, pastries, truffles, cheese and Piedmontese wine. It also has mainstream shops on Via Garibaldi, big labels under the Via Roma arcades and the Balon flea market on Saturdays. Neither city offers a wide range of fashion, but Florence has a craft tradition that Turin cannot match.

Your money goes noticeably further in Turin. Central hotels are fairly priced for most of the year, an aperitivo can stand in for dinner, and Porta Palazzo and the neighbourhood trattorie keep meals cheap. Costs rise mainly during trade fairs, in truffle season and at fine-dining tables.

Florence is expensive for its size. Hotels cost a lot from spring to autumn, and museum fees add up over a few days. Street food, market lunches and walking everywhere help, and so do staying across the river or near the station and visiting in winter.

Turin has the fuller programme through the year. The Teatro Regio stages a full opera and ballet season, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra plays in its own auditorium and there are concerts in the Lingotto hall. Jazz clubs and long-running festivals of classical, jazz and electronic music add to it.

Florence has the deeper history. Opera was more or less born here, and the city hosts the Maggio Musicale festival. Most visitors, though, hear its music at church and palace concerts staged for tourists, and there is little to choose from outside the season. In both cities the theatre is almost entirely in Italian.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, and both rely on hotel spas and a handful of day spas. They differ in how you unwind. In Turin the calm comes from the city's own pace, with long breaks in historic cafés and walks under the arcades and along the Po. In crowded Florence you need early mornings or the Boboli and Bardini gardens.

For thermal waters, Florence is better placed. Montecatini Terme is under an hour by train, and the sulphur pools of Bagno Vignoni and Saturnia lie further south. From Turin, Acqui Terme and the Aosta valley baths are both close to two hours away.