Lecce or Turin?

This is the one area where Lecce is far ahead. The Salento coast gives it fine sand and shallow water at Porto Cesareo and Punta Prosciutto on the Ionian side, and pale coves and sea stacks at Torre dell'Orso on the Adriatic. In summer the beach shapes the whole day, as long as you have a car or catch the seasonal buses.

Turin has no sea within a normal day of sightseeing. The Ligurian beaches around Varazze take nearly two hours each way. Locals cool off instead in small lakes such as Avigliana, which is pleasant enough but not a reason to come.

Lecce has a distinctive local kitchen: pasticciotto and iced almond coffee for breakfast, ciceri e tria and orecchiette with turnip tops in the osterie, and Negroamaro with dinner. It is cheap and satisfying, but after a few days you will have eaten your way through most of it.

Turin offers more depth. Agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato and autumn truffles from the Langhe come with Barolo and Barbaresco, and the city takes its vermouth, gianduiotti and bicerin very seriously. Porta Palazzo market adds cheap snacks, so a food-led trip has far more to explore here.

Lecce's appeal is the townscape itself. Santa Croce's carved facade, the closed Piazza del Duomo at dusk and the Roman amphitheatre sunk below Piazza Sant'Oronzo reward slow wandering more than a list of sights.

Turin has more major sights to fill the days. The Egyptian collection is world class, the Savoy palaces and the Reggia di Venaria show off a royal capital, and the cinema museum, the car museum and the Castello di Rivoli carry the story into industry and modern art. It suits travellers who plan their days around museums.

Both cities are made for a long aperitivo and a drink in old lanes rather than for heavy clubbing. Turin simply has more of it. The Quadrilatero Romano, San Salvario and Vanchiglia each have their own crowd, the Murazzi on the Po come alive in summer, and some clubs are set in old industrial buildings.

In Lecce the evening centres on the piazzas and the old town's small bars. Anyone who wants to dance in summer has to drive out to the beach clubs around Gallipoli.

Turin's horizon is a mountain range you can actually reach. Ibex and high trails in the Gran Paradiso, hut-to-hut hiking in summer and skiing around Sestriere are all within about an hour and a half, with the Superga hills and the Mandria forest closer still.

Lecce's countryside is a flat plain of olive groves. Its outdoors is the sea: clifftop paths from Roca Vecchia towards Leuca, boat trips into sea caves, snorkelling and diving, and birdwatching at the Alimini lakes.

Both make good bases, but Turin's day trips are easier and more varied. The Langhe wine villages around Alba and Barolo are about an hour south, Milan is an hour away by fast train, and Genoa, Aosta and the Sacra di San Michele add sea, Roman remains and mountain scenery.

From Lecce, Otranto's mosaic floor, Gallipoli's island old town and Galatina's frescoes are close, and the trulli of Alberobello and white Ostuni lie further north. Most of these trips, though, really need a hire car.

Turin is a little easier with children. Its arcades shelter pushchairs from sun and rain, and the glass lift through the Mole, the mummies and the planetarium hold older children's attention. Zoom Torino makes a full day out.

Lecce offers a relaxed traffic-free old town, piazzas full of local families and shallow sand at Porto Cesareo that suits toddlers. There is little built for children, though, and the summer heat means a long afternoon rest.

Both centres are flat and easy to walk. The difference is what happens beyond them. Turin's grid of arcades runs from Porta Nuova to the river, and a driverless metro, trams and good rail links cover the rest, so you need a car only for the hills and the Alps.

In Lecce, by contrast, the walkable old town is where public transport stops being useful. The Salento's local trains are slow and the beach buses run only in summer, so most visitors hire a car and park outside the walls.

Turin gives you a proper shopping day. Big-name labels line Via Roma under the arcades, there are boutiques around Via Lagrange and antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria, and the Balon flea market fills Saturdays. Chocolate and truffle delicatessens are its best buys.

Lecce is for a few memorable things to take home rather than serious shopping: cartapesta saints from the old town workshops, small limestone carvings and Grottaglie ceramics.

Overall costs are about the same, but they rise at different times. Lecce is cheap for simple meals and palazzo bed and breakfasts for most of the year, then becomes expensive in August when the Salento fills up, and the hire car adds to the bill.

Turin's prices are steadier. A generous aperitivo can replace dinner and the centre is walked or reached by cheap transport, while trade fairs, museum tickets and truffle season are where the spending goes.

Turin has a full programme all year. There is opera and ballet at the Teatro Regio, the RAI orchestra in its own hall, concerts at the Lingotto and jazz in small clubs, though the theatre is in Italian.

Lecce has a modest season at the Politeama Greco and the Paisiello. Its real draw is pizzica, the frenzied Salento tambourine dance played at village festivals all summer and at the Notte della Taranta in Melpignano in August.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, so the difference lies in what is nearby. From Lecce, the sulphur grottoes of Santa Cesarea Terme above the sea are under an hour away, and masseria spas in the olive country make for quiet retreats.

Turin's rest is more urban: long coffees in the historic cafés, walks under the arcades and slow afternoons in Valentino park. Real thermal water at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley is close to two hours away.