Lecce or Palermo?

Both give good summer swimming, but in different ways. From Lecce you have the choice of two seas: the pale coves and sea stacks of Torre dell'Orso on the Adriatic, or the long, shallow sands of Porto Cesareo and Punta Prosciutto on the Ionian. Reaching the best of them almost always means a car.

Palermo has one classic beach, Mondello, half an hour away by city bus, plus deep-water swimming off the rocks of Capo Gallo and Cefalù's town beach by train. It has less variety, but it is easier to reach if you are not driving.

Palermo is the stronger food city. Its markets are a meal in themselves, with panelle, arancine, sfincione and pani ca' meusa, and its cooking carries an Arab layer of raisins, saffron and sweet-and-sour sauces. Cannoli, cassata and brioche with granita add a pastry culture that Lecce cannot match for breadth.

Lecce's table is smaller and more rustic. You get a pasticciotto and iced almond coffee for breakfast and ciceri e tria in a cheap osteria, with dark Negroamaro on the side. It is satisfying, but after a few days the range runs thin.

Lecce offers one style done completely: a Baroque old town carved in soft local limestone, led by Santa Croce and the enclosed Piazza del Duomo. Its pleasure lies in the walk itself, and its museums are modest.

Palermo has more layers and more substance. The gold mosaics of the Palatine Chapel and the rest of the UNESCO Arab-Norman route sit alongside Serpotta's stucco oratories, the Salinas museum and Antonello's Annunciata at Palazzo Abatellis. The price is a centre that is partly crumbling, where Lecce's feels kept.

Palermo has the livelier night out. The Vucciria fills with grills, cheap beer and small bars after dark, the Kalsa and the lanes off Via Maqueda carry on past midnight, and in summer the dancing moves to Mondello.

Lecce's evening is gentler: a passeggiata, an aperitivo on the piazza, then wine bars in the old town, with students keeping weekends going. For clubs in summer you drive to the coast near Gallipoli.

Palermo has far more varied country around it. Monte Pellegrino rises straight above the streets, the Zingaro reserve has a coastal trail past coves, and the Madonie offers beech woods and peaks close to 2,000m for proper hiking.

Lecce's surroundings are a flat plain of olive groves, better for gentle cycling than walking. Its outdoors is the sea: the cliffs and sea caves between Otranto and Leuca, wetlands for birdwatching at Le Cesine, and good snorkelling and kayaking.

From Lecce the outings are short and close to home: Otranto's cathedral mosaic, Gallipoli's island old town, the frescoes at Galatina, and further north white Ostuni and the trulli of Alberobello. They are rewarding stone towns rather than headline sights, and nearly all of them call for a car.

Palermo reaches much further into history. Monreale's golden mosaics are half an hour up the hill and Cefalù is a train ride east. To the west stand Segesta's lone Doric temple and hilltop Erice, and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento makes a long but unforgettable day.

Lecce is the easier city with children. Its old centre is largely car-free, the piazzas fill with families in the evening, and the shallow Ionian beaches suit toddlers well. Neither city has much built for children, though.

Palermo matches it on warmth towards children and on gelato, and adds Mondello and the puppet shows of knights and Saracens. Against that, its narrow lanes are shared with scooters, and the uneven stone is hard work with a pushchair.

Inside the walls, Lecce is the simpler walk: a small, flat centre with the station on its edge. Beyond it, slow local railways and summer-only beach buses leave most visitors hiring a car.

Palermo's centre is larger but still walkable along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, with scooters and missing pavements in the side lanes. It does let you reach Mondello, Cefalù and Bagheria without a car, even if driving in the city itself is stressful.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Palermo has a little more to offer. Via Libertà carries Italian fashion and some luxury labels, and the city's crafts include painted ceramics, handmade marionettes, coral jewellery and a flea market for antiques.

Lecce's best buys are its cartapesta saints and nativity figures, small limestone carvings and Grottaglie ceramics. Beyond those it has a few fashion shops and food shops with oil and taralli.

Both are good value for Italy, and both get more expensive in July and August. In Lecce, August pushes up prices across the whole Salento, and the hire car most visitors need adds to the bill.

Palermo's edge is its street food, which makes a cheap meal of a market crawl, and the low church entry fees. Fish restaurants and boutique hotels there charge mainland prices, so the saving depends on how you eat and sleep.

Lecce's stage life is mostly a summer affair. The Politeama Greco and the Paisiello offer a modest programme, and the music that really belongs to the place is pizzica, the tambourine dance of village festivals that peaks at the Notte della Taranta in Melpignano.

For a night at the opera or a concert, Palermo is in another league. The Teatro Massimo stages opera, ballet and concerts through its season, the Politeama is home to the Sicilian symphony orchestra, and the Opera dei Pupi puts on hour-long marionette battles in small family theatres.

Lecce is the more restful choice. The town slows right down in the afternoon, the restored masserie on the plain offer quiet spa stays, and Santa Cesarea's sulphur pools sit in grottoes above the sea.

Palermo is loud with scooters and markets. Rest there means hotel spas, the Orto Botanico and the cloisters, with thermal waters at Termini Imerese or Sciacca outside town.