Lucca or Milan?

Neither city is on the water, but Lucca is far closer to it. Viareggio is about 25 minutes by train. From there, wide sandy beaches with gently shelving water run up the Versilia coast to Forte dei Marmi, with wilder dunes backed by pine woods at the Lecciona. Sightseeing in the morning and a swim in the afternoon is an easy day.

Milan has nothing like it. Locals make do with the Idroscalo basin and open-air pools. A realistic swim means a pebbly lido on Lake Como or Lake Maggiore about an hour away, where the water is a little cooler, and the Ligurian coast is too far for an afternoon.

Lucca cooks plainly and well: spelt soup, tordelli in ragù, chestnut dishes in the colder months, slices of cecina from bakery counters and buccellato, all served in family trattorias at fair prices. The limit is range. Modern and international cooking is scarce, and after a few days the menus start to repeat.

Milan offers much more choice. Beyond its own butter-rich saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta, it gathers cooking from every Italian region and has a serious fine-dining tier. The aperitivo spreads around the Navigli, Brera and Isola make the early evening an occasion of its own.

The two offer different kinds of sightseeing. In Lucca the whole town is the attraction: intact Renaissance walls, a medieval street grid, the carved Romanesque façades of San Michele and San Frediano, and the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro. Two unhurried days are enough to see it.

Milan has less old townscape, but its single treasures are greater. There is the marble Duomo with its rooftop terraces, Leonardo's Last Supper, the Pinacoteca di Brera and Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà at the Castello. Lucca's national museums are modest by comparison, which gives Milan the edge for anyone who travels for art.

Lucca winds down early. The usual evening is an aperitivo in Piazza San Michele, a long dinner and a stroll on the walls, and the centre is calm by midnight. Dancing in summer means the Versilia beach clubs and a late taxi back.

Milan keeps going far longer. Its nights run from the canal-side bars of the Navigli to the easy-going streets of Isola and Porta Venezia, the heart of the gay scene, and on to dressy clubs around Corso Como or warehouse nights on the edge of town. The style is polished rather than wild, and the city empties in August.

Both cities sit on flat ground with mountains about an hour to the north, so the outdoors are broadly matched. Lucca's green space at home is the tree-lined ring of the walls and the Serchio cycle paths. Beyond them lie olive hills, the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps, the Garfagnana chestnut woods and the reed beds of Lake Massaciuccoli.

Milan's backdrop is water and higher mountains. It has steep slopes around Como and Maggiore with ferries, sailing and lakeside paths, the via ferrata of the Grigne above Lecco, and ski resorts that make a long winter day out. In the city itself there are only parks and canal towpaths across a hazy plain.

Both make excellent bases. What differs is how far the trains take you. From Lucca, short regional rides reach Pisa, Pistoia and Florence. The garden villas at Marlia and Collodi, the marble towns of Pietrasanta and Carrara, and the Garfagnana villages fill quieter days, though some of these are easier by car.

Milan has high-speed rail, which puts Verona, Turin and Bologna about an hour away. Bergamo, the villages of Lake Como, the Certosa di Pavia, Mantua and even Lugano across the Swiss border are within reach too. Lucca opens onto Tuscany, while Milan covers much of northern Italy.

For families, the choice is between a small town that is easy to manage and a big city with more to visit, and the two end up about even. Lucca's centre is small, flat and mostly car-free, and riding a family quadricycle round the walls is the classic outing. Pinocchio Park at Collodi and the beach are both close.

Milan has more to visit: the hands-on science and technology museum, the aquarium by Parco Sempione, and theme parks such as Leolandia and Gardaland for older children. Heavy summer heat and sights aimed at adults count against it on a longer stay.

Lucca is a town for feet and bicycles, while Milan runs on metro and tram, and each works well on its own terms. Inside Lucca's walls you walk or cycle everywhere, with bike rental at every gate and the station just outside the southern walls. The weak point is the countryside, where sparse buses make a car worth having.

Milan has five metro lines, a dense tram network that includes the old orange cars, and direct trains to the lakes, so you never need a car. The drawbacks are hot platforms in summer and the long ride in from Malpensa.

This is where Milan leads most clearly. The Quadrilatero della Moda holds the flagships of fashion houses founded in the city, and the Galleria and La Rinascente stand beside the Duomo. Brera, Porta Ticinese, Corso Buenos Aires and the design showrooms cover everything from vintage clothes to lighting.

Lucca is pleasant for browsing but not a reason to travel. It has Via Fillungo's Liberty shopfronts and delicatessens selling oil, wine and buccellato. The exception is its antiques market, one of Italy's oldest, which collectors may want to time a visit around.

Neither city is cheap, but Lucca is noticeably kinder to a budget. Trattoria meals and regional trains are fairly priced, the walls and many churches are free, and accommodation is the main cost, with better value just outside the walls.

Milan is Italy's most expensive city. Hotel rates rise further during trade fairs and fashion weeks, and dinner in Brera or drinks in a stylish bar add up quickly. Lunchtime set menus for office workers, a filling aperitivo and a room near an outer metro stop take some of the edge off.

Both cities have deep ties to opera, but on very different scales. Lucca is Puccini's birthplace. It offers recitals of his arias in a central church for most of the year, a season at the Teatro del Giglio, big summer concerts in Piazza Napoleone and the open-air Puccini Festival by the lake at Torre del Lago.

Milan has La Scala, one of the world's great opera houses, along with the Piccolo Teatro, a fine symphony orchestra, musicals, jazz rooms and stadium concerts at San Siro. You can find a serious performance in almost any week, although opera and classical music slow down in summer.

Lucca is the easier place to unwind, even though it is Milan that has a thermal spa inside the city. Lucca has no baths of its own, but its quiet, traffic-free streets, long lunches and evening walks on the walls set a gentle pace. Montecatini, the cave pools at Monsummano and the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca make easy spa days out.

Milan offers a well-known thermal spa complex with outdoor pools and saunas, some good hotel spas and the summer pools of the Bagni Misteriosi. Around them, though, it is a busy working city, and for real rest most visitors head to the lakes.