Lecce or Syracuse, Sicily?

Syracuse puts the sea right at the door. On Ortigia you swim off rocks and wooden platforms below the old town walls, and sandy family beaches such as Arenella and Fontane Bianche are a short drive south. Lecce sits 12km inland, and its nearest sands at San Cataldo are plain.

Lecce's strength is choice once you have a car. The Adriatic coves and sea stacks of Torre dell'Orso lie to the east and the long, clear Ionian shallows of Punta Prosciutto to the west. Syracuse's answer is the undeveloped pale sand of Vendicari, about forty minutes south.

The two eat about equally well, but from different larders. Lecce's cooking comes from the land and the bakery: pasticciotto and almond-milk iced coffee for breakfast, chickpeas with fried pasta, fava purée and dark Negroamaro. Syracuse cooks from its morning market, with swordfish, sea urchin, anchovies and capers, followed by granita and cannoli.

Neither offers much beyond its own region. Seafood lovers will lean towards Ortigia, and anyone curious about unfamiliar dishes will find Lecce's repertoire the more unusual.

Syracuse goes deeper in time. Its cathedral is literally built around a Greek temple, and the Neapolis park, the Paolo Orsi museum and Caravaggio's Burial of Saint Lucy add up to two or three days of serious sightseeing. Ortigia's Baroque lanes come on top of all that.

Lecce's pleasure is more unified and more visual: a whole old town of carved honey-coloured stone, with Santa Croce and the enclosed Piazza del Duomo as its high points. Its Roman remains and museums are modest, so it is a town to wander rather than to study.

Evenings look much the same in both: an aperitivo on the piazzas, then small wine and cocktail bars in the old lanes. Lecce has a student population that keeps weekends lively for much of the year, whereas Ortigia goes quiet from November to March.

In summer, dancing moves to beach clubs in both places. From Lecce that means the drive to Gallipoli, while Syracuse sends serious clubbers up to Catania.

Syracuse has far more variety on land. Inland, the Hyblaean gorges hold the green pools of Cavagrande and the trails of the Anapo valley. Along the coast there are flamingos on the Vendicari lagoons, papyrus on the Ciane river and Etna to the north.

Around Lecce the plain is flat, so the outdoors means the coast. Clifftop paths and sea caves run from Roca Vecchia towards Leuca, with birdwatching at Le Cesine and the Alimini lakes. Both offer good snorkelling and kayaking.

Syracuse has the richer circuit. Noto, Modica, Ragusa Ibla and Scicli make up a whole UNESCO group of Baroque towns, and Catania, Taormina and the mosaics of Piazza Armerina are also within a day's reach.

Lecce covers the Salento well, with Otranto's cathedral mosaic, Gallipoli's island town and Galatina's frescoes. Northwards, Ostuni and the trulli of Alberobello take longer drives. In both cities a hire car makes most of these trips practical.

Neither city has much built for children, so in both the sea does the work. Lecce's best family beaches are the gentle sands around Porto Cesareo, a drive away, and its traffic-free piazzas fill with families every evening.

Syracuse adds a few more things to do between swims: the echoing Ear of Dionysius, the papyrus boats on the Ciane and the puppet theatre on Ortigia. Its shelving beaches at Arenella are close to town.

Both are easy on foot and awkward beyond. Lecce's flat centre has the station at its edge, with fast trains north to Bari. Ortigia is a compact island, but the Neapolis park sits on the mainland, a longish walk or short taxi ride away.

Once you leave town, slow local trains and patchy buses mean most visitors to either city hire a car for at least part of the stay.

Shopping is a minor pleasure in both, with the crafts making the difference. Lecce's speciality is cartapesta saints and carved limestone. Syracuse offers painted ceramics, coral jewellery and papyrus paintings, plus capers and pistachio products from the market, and it has some ordinary chain stores around Corso Gelone.

Costs come out much the same, with cheap eating in both and August as the expensive month. In Lecce the summer squeeze hits the whole Salento coast and its beach-club loungers. In Syracuse it falls mostly on Ortigia's guesthouses, so staying on the mainland is the easier saving. Both often need a hire car on top.

Neither has a full cultural calendar, and each is known for one season above all. Lecce has two historic theatres with a little opera, and in summer the pizzica tambourine dance at village festivals and the huge Notte della Taranta.

Syracuse's moment comes earlier in the year, when Greek tragedies are staged in the ancient theatre, a tradition running since 1914. For the rest of the year, its Charlemagne puppet theatres on Ortigia are the main thing to see.

Lecce has somewhere to go for the waters. Under an hour south-east, at Santa Cesarea Terme, sulphur springs fill grottoes and pools cut into the cliffs above the Adriatic. Some of the old fortified farmhouses on the olive plain now take guests for quiet stays with treatments. Back in town, the long afternoon closure and the slow evenings on the piazzas do the rest.

Syracuse has nothing like this. It has only the spas of its better hotels and a handful of day spas on Ortigia, which are handy but minor. Its restfulness comes from the island's pace: long lunches and sunset walks on the sea walls in spring and autumn, which August's heat and crowds largely take away.