Lecce or Taormina?

Both make fine summer bases for the sea, but the beaches differ in kind. Lecce is inland, so every beach day means a drive or a seasonal bus, and the reward is sand: the pale coves of Torre dell'Orso on the Adriatic and the long, shallow, very clear shallows of Porto Cesareo and Punta Prosciutto on the Ionian.

Taormina has the sea right below it, reached by cable car or steep paths, but its bays at Mazzarò and Isola Bella are narrow pebble strips with glassy water for snorkelling. For sand you go down to Giardini Naxos or Letojanni.

Lecce has the edge, mainly because its peasant cooking is so particular and so cheap to eat well: pasticciotto and iced almond-milk espresso for breakfast, ciceri e tria and fava purée with chicory at dinner, Negroamaro and Primitivo in the glass. Its weakness is range, with little beyond Apulian food.

Taormina has a finer top tier, refined Sicilian cooking with sea views and some of Italy's most interesting wines from Etna's slopes, plus the granita and brioche ritual. But the main street leans on tourist menus at resort prices, and good everyday eating takes a walk into the side streets or a trip down to Giardini Naxos.

Lecce offers far more to see. Its entire old town is a Baroque townscape in honey-coloured stone, from the carved facade of Santa Croce to the enclosed Piazza del Duomo, with a Roman amphitheatre half-exposed in the main square and Messapian layers beneath the streets.

Taormina has one sight of world class, the Greek theatre framing Etna and the coast, and an attractive medieval Corso with Arab, Norman and Catalan touches. Beyond that the list is short and there are no major museums, so it suits a day of slow walking rather than a week of sightseeing.

Neither is a nightlife destination, but Lecce is the livelier of the two. Its student population keeps the old-town wine and cocktail bars busy late on weekends for much of the year, and in summer the coast around Gallipoli adds open-air discos.

Taormina's evenings are slower and older: aperitivo in Piazza IX Aprile, piano bars on terraces over the sea and a few beach lounges in summer. Outside the season it goes quiet soon after dinner.

Taormina is much the better choice for the outdoors. Etna gives it craters, lava flows, guided trips towards the summit, vineyards and chestnut woods and even winter skiing, and the basalt gorges of Alcantara are close by. Paths climb to Castelmola and Monte Tauro, and the marine reserve at Isola Bella is good for diving and kayaking.

Around Lecce the land is flat olive country, best for easy cycling. Its outdoors is the coast: the cliffs and sea caves between Roca Vecchia and Otranto, the wetlands of Le Cesine and Alimini and the pine woods of Porto Selvaggio.

The Salento and Sicily's east coast both give a week of good outings, though the Sicilian list carries more weight. From Lecce you reach walled Otranto and the great floor mosaic in its cathedral, Gallipoli on its island, the frescoes of Galatina and, further north, white Ostuni and the trulli of Alberobello. Most of these are far easier with a hire car.

Taormina has Syracuse within reach, and Ortigia with the Greek theatre and quarries of Neapolis makes one of the finest days out in Sicily. Lava-stone Catania and the Baroque towns of the Val di Noto add more big names. Closer in, Etna's wine villages and hill towns such as Savoca and Castelmola fill the quieter days.

Lecce is the easier place with children. Its old town is flat and mostly free of traffic, the evening piazzas are full of families, and the shallow sandy beaches at Porto Cesareo suit toddlers well.

Taormina welcomes children but makes them work for it, with steps and steep lanes everywhere, pebbly beaches and hotels geared to couples. It suits school-age children who will enjoy Etna and snorkelling, and families with small children often stay down in Giardini Naxos instead.

Taormina is the simpler base without a car. The cable car runs to the beaches, local buses reach Castelmola and Giardini Naxos, and the coastal railway and coaches connect it to Catania, the airport, Messina and Syracuse. The catch is the slope: stairways and steep lanes are part of every walk.

Lecce's centre is flat and pleasant on foot, and fast trains run north to Brindisi and Bari, but the rest of the Salento depends on slow local trains and summer-only beach buses, so most visitors end up hiring a car.

Lecce's best buys come from its workshops, while Taormina's come from one polished street. In Lecce that means cartapesta, the papier-mâché saints and nativity figures made in the old town, along with small limestone carvings and ceramics from nearby Grottaglie. Beyond those there are a few fashion shops and plenty of olive oil and taralli.

Taormina's Corso Umberto has more gloss, with jewellers, coral and cameo dealers, lace, resort wear and painted moor's-head vases, and Bronte pistachio cream and Etna wines to carry home. Much of it is aimed at visitors, and for serious fashion shopping you go down to Catania.

Lecce is far kinder to the wallet. Pastries, trattorias and local wine cost little and old-palazzo bed and breakfasts are fairly priced except in August, when the Salento fills up and a hire car adds to the bill.

Taormina is expensive by any Sicilian measure, with grand hotels setting the tone and resort prices on the main street. Staying in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni and coming up in the evening, or visiting in spring or autumn, brings the cost down.

Both are thin outside summer and both come alive in it, in quite different ways. Lecce's distinctive sound is pizzica, the tambourine dance heard at village festivals through the summer and peaking at the huge Notte della Taranta in Melpignano, with a modest year-round season at the Politeama Greco and Teatro Paisiello.

Taormina's draw is the setting: concerts, opera, ballet and international acts staged in the Greek theatre with Etna behind, plus its long-running film festival. Serious winter opera means going to Catania.

Neither has a bathing culture of its own, so relaxation comes from the southern pace in both. From Lecce, the sulphur springs of Santa Cesarea Terme in cliffside grottoes are under an hour away, and converted masserie in the countryside offer quiet spa retreats.

Taormina's wellness lives in its hotels, with spas and terrace pools above the sea using volcanic mud and citrus. Its calm is seasonal, gentle in May and late September but crowded in August.