Padua or Palermo?

This is where the two differ most. Padua is inland, and its nearest sand at Sottomarina or the Venice Lido is about an hour away. Those beaches are long, flat strips of umbrellas, fine for paddling children but not a reason to choose the city.

Palermo has Mondello's pale, turquoise bay within half an hour, rocky ladders into deep water along the coast to Sferracavallo, and Cefalù's beach an hour away by train. You still have to travel out from the centre to swim, but a morning swim before an afternoon of sightseeing is easy.

Both cities have markets at their heart, but they work differently. Padua's Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta are where people buy produce, cheese and cured meat. Eating in Padua means Venetian home cooking such as bigoli and baccalà, and its best moment is the evening spritz with small bites in the square.

Palermo has more to explore and more to eat in the street. Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria fry panelle and arancine all day, the Arab-influenced sweet-and-sour dishes have no equivalent up north, and cannoli and brioche with granita make sweets a reason to come in their own right.

Both are serious sightseeing cities, and Palermo has a little more depth. Padua's strength is concentrated: Giotto's Scrovegni frescoes, the fourteenth-century fresco cycles around them, the Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's bronzes, and the anatomical theatre at Palazzo Bo. A couple of focused days covers it.

Palermo has more layers to work through. There are the golden Arab-Norman mosaics of the Palatine Chapel and La Martorana, Serpotta's baroque stucco oratories, and museums holding the Selinunte metopes and Antonello's Annunciata. Its crumbling streets are less tidy than Padua's well-kept centre.

Both cities spend their evenings outdoors with a drink in hand rather than in clubs, but Palermo goes on far longer. Padua's evening is the student aperitivo in the squares around the Palazzo della Ragione, and it is liveliest on weekday evenings in term. In high summer, when the university breaks, the city goes quiet.

In Palermo, summer is when things get going. The Vucciria turns into an open-air bar with grills and music, the Kalsa fills after a late dinner, and the dancing moves out to the beach venues around Mondello.

Palermo has the more dramatic setting. Monte Pellegrino rises straight above the streets, Capo Gallo has cliff paths and snorkelling, and the Zingaro coast and the Madonie peaks are within a drive, though most of them need a car.

Padua's outdoors is gentler and flatter. The Euganean Hills, about 15km away, have vineyard trails and quiet roads for cyclists, and the Brenta towpaths make easy, level bike rides. Real mountain walking means driving to the pre-Alps.

Both are excellent bases, but Padua is easier to use without planning. Venice, Vicenza, Verona and Bologna are all on fast rail lines, so you can visit a different city each day without a car. Closer in are the Brenta villas and the walled towns around the Euganean Hills.

Palermo's excursions are grand, from Monreale's mosaics to Segesta's lone temple and Agrigento's Valley of the Temples. The distances are longer, though, and the ancient sites are much easier to reach by car than by train.

Neither city is built around children, and both rely on warm local welcomes and short trips out. Padua is easier day to day, with a flat, safe, largely pedestrian centre and Prato della Valle for running about. Gardaland and Lake Garda are reachable for a day.

Palermo is harder going on foot, with scooters in narrow lanes and uneven stone for pushchairs. It has Mondello's shallow sand close by, though, and puppet shows of knights and Saracens that Padua cannot match.

Padua is the easier city to get around. Its flat centre puts every major sight within a 20-minute walk under arcades, a tram runs from the station to Prato della Valle, and bicycles are normal transport.

Palermo's main axis between the Norman Palace and the sea is walkable too, but the side lanes often have no pavements. Buses crawl through traffic, and driving is stressful. Its rail links reach Cefalù and Bagheria but not Segesta or Erice.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each sends serious fashion buyers elsewhere. What you take home differs. Padua is good for food and wine from its market delicatessens, university bookshops, and the monthly antiques market that fills Prato della Valle.

Palermo is better for crafts: painted ceramics and moor's-head vases, marionettes from the puppet workshops, and coral and filigree jewellery. You can also bring back pistachio pesto and capers from the markets.

Palermo goes further on the same budget. A meal can be several cheap stops in the markets, and trattorie and centre guesthouses cost less than in the north. July and August at the seaside, and a hire car for the ancient sites, are where the savings go.

Padua is moderately priced, and it is mainly cheap compared with Venice, which is why people sleep there and visit Venice by day. Rail travel and a walkable centre also keep transport costs low.

Palermo has the stronger stage. The Teatro Massimo runs a full season of opera and ballet with tickets that are easy to get, the Politeama has the Sicilian symphony orchestra, and the Opera dei Pupi puppet theatre is a tradition worth seeing in its own right.

Padua's programme is smaller: prose theatre at Teatro Verdi and chamber concerts in the frescoed Sala dei Giganti. Its advantage is that the Fenice in Venice and Verona's summer Arena are both an easy train ride away.

Padua is far ahead for a restful stay. Abano and Montegrotto, about 12km away, are one of Europe's largest thermal districts, with hot mineral pools that many spa hotels open to day visitors. A soak after a morning of sightseeing is easy.

Palermo has no bathing culture of its own. Spa time there means hotel spas or a train out to Termini Imerese. Its quieter moments are the evening walk along the Foro Italico and its cloisters, but the city's noise means real rest usually needs a base outside it.