Matera or Padua?

Neither is a beach town, but Matera has the better sea within reach. The Ionian shore around Metaponto and Policoro is about 45 minutes away by car, with wide sandy beaches backed by pine woods and calm, shallow water.

Padua's nearest sand, at Sottomarina or the Venice Lido, takes about an hour and is easier to reach without a car, by train and boat. What you find there is long flat stretches of umbrellas and bathing establishments rather than scenery.

Padua eats and drinks better. Its twin markets in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, the delicatessens beneath the Palazzo della Ragione, Venetian dishes such as bigoli with duck sauce and the early evening spritz in the squares make food part of the day's rhythm, with Caffè Pedrocchi as a grand set piece.

Matera's cooking is honest Lucanian peasant food: the horn-shaped durum bread, crapiata, cavatelli, crisp fried peperoni cruschi and Aglianico to drink. It is satisfying, often served in cave rooms, but the range barely goes beyond the regional table and there is no market life to speak of.

These two are close in depth but very different in kind. Matera's draw is the place itself: the cave districts of Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, rock churches with faded Byzantine frescoes and furnished cave houses, best taken in by wandering, especially at dusk.

Padua's strength is great art and learning in a compact centre. Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, which needs a timed booking, leads a UNESCO-listed group of fresco cycles, joined by Donatello's work at the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the anatomical theatre at Palazzo Bo and the oldest university botanical garden still on its original site.

Padua has more going on after dark. The aperitivo crowds around Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori stay out late on warm nights, and in term time the university fills wine bars and small pubs in the old ghetto, though clubs are few and the city goes quiet during the student breaks.

Matera's evenings come down to the passeggiata, a long dinner and a glass on a terrace above the lit Sassi, with a few cave bars open late in summer. It is lovely for couples but offers nothing like a night out.

Matera puts wild country right on the doorstep. A path drops from Sasso Caveoso into the Gravina gorge and climbs to Murgia Timone, among thyme, caves, Neolithic sites and kestrel cliffs, and the Lucanian Dolomites and the Pollino forests are within a drive.

Padua sits on a flat plain, so its outdoors starts further out. The volcanic Euganean Hills, about 15km away, offer vineyard trails and road cycling, the Brenta towpaths make easy bike rides, and real mountain walking on Monte Grappa or the Asiago plateau means a drive of about an hour and a half.

Both make good bases, but Padua is outstanding. Venice is under half an hour by train, Vicenza a quarter of an hour, and Verona, Treviso, Bologna and Ferrara all fit easily into a day, with the Brenta villas and the walled towns of Este, Monselice and Montagnana closer still.

Matera's list is strong too, reaching across the border to Altamura, the trulli of Alberobello, the white towns of the Valle d'Itria and Castel del Monte, plus Craco and the peak villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa. Almost all of them need a car, which is where Padua pulls ahead.

Padua is the easier city with children. Its centre is flat, safe and largely pedestrianised, Prato della Valle gives them space to run, and Gardaland and the shores of Lake Garda are about an hour and a quarter away.

Matera can thrill older children with its caves, the walk-through cistern and the scramble into the gorge, but the Sassi are steep stone steps where a pushchair is useless, and summer afternoons are hot with little shade. A short stay and a baby carrier are the realistic approach.

Padua is far simpler to move around. Its arcaded centre is flat, a tram runs from the station to Prato della Valle, bikes are normal, and fast trains in every direction let you skip the car entirely.

Matera is walkable too, but the stairways down into the Sassi tire the legs, and leaving town is the hard part. The city is off the national rail network, the narrow-gauge line to Bari is slow and buses are sparse, so a hire car is close to essential.

Padua offers more, though neither is a shopping destination. Its arcades hold Italian fashion and shoe shops, independent boutiques and university bookshops, and a large antiques market fills Prato della Valle one Sunday a month.

Matera's shopping is mostly souvenirs from Sassi workshops: the cockerel-shaped cuccù whistle, tufa carvings and papier-mâché. Beyond that, the best things to take home are dried peppers, local pasta and Aglianico.

Costs are much alike, but where the savings lie differs. In Matera, simple trattorias in the upper town are cheap, while the cave hotels of the Sassi are the expensive part, so staying in the newer town a short walk away keeps a trip affordable.

Padua's value lies in using it as a base: its hotels are reasonably priced for a region that includes Venice, and the walkable centre and short train rides keep transport cheap. Rooms there get dearer during the big trade fairs and graduation season.

Padua has a real year-round programme, modest as it is: theatre and some opera at the Teatro Verdi, a chamber orchestra playing in the Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica, and student music venues. The Fenice in Venice and the Arena in Verona are also within easy reach.

Matera's performance life rests on conservatory concerts, a summer jazz festival and the Festa della Bruna, when the procession ends with a papier-mâché float being torn apart. Outside those dates there is little to see on stage.

Padua has one of Europe's great spa districts on its doorstep. At Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, hot mineral water feeds indoor and outdoor pools and mud has been used for treatments since Roman times, and many spa hotels take day visitors.

Matera has no bathing tradition, only hotel spas, some with candlelit pools cut into the rock. Its calm comes instead from quiet early mornings in the Sassi and evenings watching the light fade over the gorge.