Matera or Portofino?

Portofino has the better swimming, simply because the sea is right there. You can climb down ladders from the rocks on the lighthouse path into deep, clear water, walk to the small sandy bay at Paraggi or take a boat to the pebbles at San Fruttuoso. The catch is that every spot is small, and much of Paraggi is given over to paid beach clubs.

From Matera the sea is a day out. The wide sandy beaches near Metaponto and Policoro are about 45 minutes away by car and have shallow, calm water that suits children. Without a car you won't swim at all.

Matera eats better and more honestly. It has Basilicata's peasant cooking: the horn-shaped pane di Matera, crapiata, cavatelli, roast lamb and crackling fried peperoni cruschi, with Aglianico to drink. The best meals are often in the plain trattorias of the upper town rather than the cave restaurants.

Portofino's Ligurian dishes, trofie with pesto and Recco's cheese focaccia, are good in themselves, but the harbour terraces charge for the view more than the cooking. Visitors who care about food go to Camogli or Santa Margherita.

This is where the two differ most. Matera's Sassi are cave dwellings that were lived in from prehistoric times until the 1950s. Rock churches such as Santa Maria de Idris keep medieval frescoes, and MUSMA, the Museo Ridola and the Levi panorama at Palazzo Lanfranchi easily fill several days.

In Portofino, the village itself is the sight: painted houses around the harbour, San Giorgio and Castello Brown above it, and the abbey of San Fruttuoso in its roadless cove. It is lovely to look at, and you will have seen it all in a day.

Neither place is for a night out, but Matera has a little more going on. A few cave wine bars and cocktail bars stay open late in summer, there is a small student crowd, and the passeggiata on Via del Corso fills the early evening.

Portofino's evening is a dressed-up aperitivo facing the yachts, then dinner, then quiet. Anyone wanting more takes the road to Santa Margherita or Rapallo.

Portofino's headland is protected both on land and at sea, which gives it the edge. Trails climb through holm oak to the Semaforo Nuovo and drop along cliffs to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa, some of them with chains. Below the water there are coral walls, seagrass meadows and the Christ of the Abyss statue, with kayaks and boats easy to find.

Matera's outdoors is drier and stonier. A path drops into the Gravina gorge and climbs to Murgia Timone, past Neolithic sites and abandoned rock churches. The Lucanian Dolomites and the Pollino forests are further out and need a car.

Both make excellent bases, but they work differently. From Matera you drive into Puglia: Altamura, Alberobello's trulli, the white towns of the Valle d'Itria and Castel del Monte. On the Basilicata side there are the ghost town of Craco and the cliff villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa.

From Portofino the outings run along the coast by boat and train: Camogli, Sestri Levante, the Cinque Terre, Portovenere and Genoa's palaces, with no car needed.

Neither is built for children, and both are hard with a pushchair. Matera's draws are adventurous ones, such as the caves, the underground cistern and scrambling into the gorge, but its summers are hot and shadeless.

Portofino gives children boats and rock swimming, though families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and visit Genoa's aquarium.

Both are small enough to walk, with steep steps to reckon with, and both are awkward to get in and out of. Matera is off the main rail network, so a hire car is close to essential. In Portofino a car is a burden on the single narrow road, and the bus to Santa Margherita station and the seasonal ferries do the job instead.

Matera sells crafts: painted cuccù whistles, tufa carvings of the Sassi and papier-mâché from workshops in the old districts. The best things to carry home are dried peppers and a bottle of Aglianico. Portofino's few lanes behind the harbour hold big fashion and jewellery houses and resort wear for people coming off the yachts. Each takes a short stroll to see, so neither is a reason to make the trip.

Matera is far easier on the wallet. Meals in the upper town cost much less than in Italy's big cities, and guesthouses in the newer town are cheap. The cave hotels in the Sassi are the only real splurge.

Portofino is among the costliest stays in Italy. Its few hotels are luxury properties, the piazzetta charges for the view, and loungers, boats and parking all add up. Walking and the bus are the only bargains, which is why so many visitors sleep in Rapallo or Camogli.

Matera offers a bit more, with conservatory concerts, a summer jazz festival with the Sassi as a backdrop, and the Festa della Bruna, when the papier-mâché float is torn apart. Portofino has only the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle, so for opera you go to Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice.

Portofino is slightly more restful, mainly because of the water: shaded coastal paths, long lunches facing the bay and luxury hotel spas on the hillside. Its calm breaks around midday in high summer, when the tour boats arrive.

Matera has no bathing tradition either, but some hotels have spas in candlelit caves with pools cut into the rock. Its quiet comes from early mornings in the Sassi and the slower months from autumn to spring.