Padua or Salerno?

Padua is an inland city, so the sea is an outing, not part of daily life. Sottomarina and the Lido of Venice are about an hour away, and they are flat strips of umbrellas and bathing establishments, calm and shallow but not scenic.

Salerno has the sea at the end of its streets. The city's grey-sand beaches are fine for a quick dip, the wide sandy shore towards Paestum suits a full day under the pines, and ferries reach the clear pebbly coves of the Amalfi Coast. That is the difference between a dip now and then and a real beach vacation.

The two cities eat equally well, but from opposite ends of Italy. Padua's cooking is Venetian and homely: bigoli with duck sauce, risotto with spring peas, boiled meats and baccalà. Its day revolves around the morning markets under the Palazzo della Ragione and the standing spritz in the squares at dusk.

Salerno cooks for the coast. Expect fried seafood, pasta with clams, wood-fired pizza, buffalo mozzarella eaten the day it is made and Cetara's anchovy colatura, with sfogliatelle and lemon pastries afterwards. Euganean reds against Fiano and Aglianico sums up the gap.

Here Padua is clearly ahead. Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel changed European painting, and around it are a UNESCO-listed group of fresco cycles, the domed Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's bronzes, the world's oldest permanent anatomical theatre and a botanical garden founded in 1545.

Salerno's heritage is mostly medieval and much smaller in scale. The Norman cathedral with Saint Matthew's crypt, the medicinal garden of Europe's first medical school and the Arechi Castle fill a day or two, and the region's great ancient sites are outside the city.

Evenings are similar: drinks outdoors in the old centre rather than clubs. The difference lies in who goes out and when. Padua's students fill Piazza delle Erbe and the wine bars around the Bo during term, but the city goes quiet in high summer. Salerno's old-town lanes around Largo Campo come alive on weekends and especially in summer, when clubs open along the coast and Naples is close for a bigger night.

Salerno has far more dramatic surroundings. Limestone cliffs, terraced lemon groves and old mule tracks such as the Path of the Gods are close by, the Cilento offers gorges and wild headlands, and kayaking and boat trips along the coast fill summer days.

Padua's outdoors is gentler and starts a little way out of town. The Euganean Hills, about 15km away, have vineyard trails and good road cycling, and the Brenta towpaths make level bike rides. Real mountain walking means driving to the pre-Alps.

Both are first-rate bases, and the difference is where the trips lead. From Padua, quick trains reach Venice, Vicenza, Verona and Bologna, and the Brenta villas and the walled towns around the Euganean Hills are closer still. It is a tour of art cities with no car needed.

From Salerno the trips go back further in time and out to the coast: the Greek temples at Paestum, Pompeii and Herculaneum, and ferries to Amalfi and Positano in season, with Naples and Caserta also within easy reach.

Salerno works better with children, mostly thanks to the sea. A long, car-free promenade with playgrounds, shallow sandy beaches south of town and the Luci d'Artista lights in winter give families plenty to do, though the steep old town and the winding coast roads are tiring.

Padua is flat, safe and easy with a pushchair, and Prato della Valle has room to run. Its main sights, though, are frescoes and churches, so families usually head to Gardaland or Lake Garda for a day.

Padua is the easier city to move around. Its compact, level centre is largely closed to traffic, arcades give shelter from rain and sun, and a tram links the station with the sights. The station has main lines in every direction, which makes day trips simple.

Salerno's centre is a walkable strip along the water, but the castle sits high above, and the Amalfi Coast depends on ferries in the warmer months because the coastal buses are slow and packed in summer.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each sends serious shoppers on to a larger city. Padua's strengths are its arcaded streets of shoe shops and university bookshops, the market delicatessens and a monthly antiques market on Prato della Valle. Salerno has a long chain-store street on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, but its best buys are local: Vietri's painted majolica, limoncello and Cetara's colatura.

Salerno is a little easier on the budget. Its pizzerias, bakeries and regional trains charge local southern prices, and it costs far less to sleep there than in the cliff villages. Summer ferries, lido sunbeds and the entry fees at the big archaeological sites add up, though.

Padua is moderate rather than cheap, but it is a sensible alternative to staying in Venice. Rooms cost more during the trade fairs and graduation season.

The two are well matched, and each has a nineteenth-century Teatro Verdi. Salerno's gilded house, modelled on the San Carlo, puts on full seasons of opera and ballet, and the Ravello Festival's cliff-top concerts are close by. Padua leans towards drama and chamber music, with concerts in the Sala dei Giganti and the basilica, and the Fenice and the Verona Arena are within reach for big opera.

Padua is much the better choice for rest and treatments. Abano Terme and Montegrotto, about 12km away, are among Europe's largest thermal districts, with hot mineral pools and mud cures in use since Roman times, and many spa hotels let in day visitors.

Salerno's nearest springs are about an hour inland at Contursi, so in town wellness means a hotel spa. The calming part of a stay there is a sunset walk along the palm-lined seafront.