Palermo or Turin?

Palermo has real swimming within easy reach. Mondello's pale sand and shallow water are half an hour away by bus, and further up the coast towards Capo Gallo there are ladders off the rocks into deep water. You won't step out of your hotel onto the sand, but a swim fits easily into a day of sightseeing.

Turin has no sea at all. The Ligurian Riviera is close to two hours away, so a swim means a long day out or a separate stay on the coast. In summer, locals make do with small lakes such as Avigliana.

Both cities eat superbly, but in opposite styles. Palermo eats standing up: panelle, arancine and sfincione from the fryers and vans of Ballarò and the Capo, with sweet-and-sour dishes that show the city's Arab past and cannoli filled while you wait.

Turin sits down to eat. Piedmontese cooking means agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato and white truffles in autumn, served with Barolo, and the aperitivo, which began here with vermouth, can be a meal in itself. Go to Palermo to graze through the markets and to Turin for long dinners and chocolate.

The two cities have very different heritages of about equal weight. Palermo's great draw is medieval: the gold mosaics of the Palatine Chapel and the Arab-Norman churches, along with baroque oratories full of white stucco, in an old centre that is partly crumbling.

Turin is a royal capital and a museum city. The Museo Egizio alone is worth the trip, and around it stand the Savoy palaces, the Mole with its cinema museum and strong contemporary art at Rivoli. In Palermo the buildings are the main event, while in Turin it is more the collections.

Palermo has the livelier evenings, and they happen outdoors. The Vucciria turns into a street party of grills and cheap beer, and on warm nights the bars of the Kalsa stay busy well past midnight. Clubs are scarce, and in summer the dancing moves to the coast.

Turin's nights are steadier. They start with aperitivo and then move to the wine bars of the Quadrilatero, the pavements of San Salvario and, in summer, the Murazzi by the Po. It has more of a club scene than Palermo but less life on the street, and it goes quiet when the students are away.

Turin has the better outdoors because the Alps are within reach. Gran Paradiso's ibex and high trails, climbing in the Susa valley and skiing around Sestriere are all about an hour or so away. For easier days there are the Superga hills and the cycle paths along the Po.

Palermo's landscape is Mediterranean rather than alpine. Monte Pellegrino rises above the city, Capo Gallo and the Zingaro reserve have cliff paths and snorkelling, and the Madonie offer hiking inland. Summer heat and the need for a car limit how much of it you can do.

Both make excellent bases, but the days out are very different. From Palermo they lead into the ancient and Norman past: Monreale's mosaics, Cefalù, the lone temple at Segesta and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, most of them easier by car.

From Turin they are about wine and mountains: Alba, Barolo and the Langhe an hour to the south, the Sacra di San Michele on its rock, and Milan an hour away by fast train, with Genoa and Aosta further out. Turin's rail links make it easier to go without a car.

Turin is the easier place with children. The flat grid and arcades suit a pushchair in rain or sun, and crowds are rarely heavy. The Mole's glass lift, the car museum and the Egyptian mummies keep older children interested, and the Zoom zoo park is a drive away.

Palermo's best offers for families are Mondello's shallow, sandy bay and the puppet shows. Otherwise it means uneven stone lanes without pavements, scooters and hard summer heat, so a seaside base outside the centre often works better.

Turin is simpler to get around. Its centre is a flat, regular grid lined with arcades, a driverless metro runs through Porta Nuova, and good rail links make day trips possible without a car.

You can walk between Palermo's main sights along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. But the side lanes lack pavements, buses crawl through traffic and driving is stressful, and you will probably still need a hire car for Segesta and Erice.

Turin offers more to shoppers. It has luxury labels under the Via Roma arcades, boutiques around Via Lagrange, antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria and the Balon flea market, and its chocolate makers and delicatessens sell the best things to take home.

Palermo's shopping is mostly crafts and food: painted ceramics and moor's-head vases, marionettes and coral jewellery, plus pistachio pesto and capers from the markets. Via Libertà has fashion shops, but the choice is smaller.

Neither city is expensive by Italian standards, but the costs fall in different places. In Palermo you can make a very cheap lunch from market street food and pastries, but July and August push up the price of seaside rooms, and a hire car adds up.

In Turin a generous aperitivo can replace dinner, and walking the compact centre saves on transport. Trade fairs, museum tickets and the truffle season are where the spending goes up.

Both have a serious opera house: the huge Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the modernist Teatro Regio in Turin. The difference lies in what surrounds them. Palermo has the Opera dei Pupi, hour-long puppet battles of knights and Saracens that are worth seeing in their own right, and in summer much of its programme moves into cloisters and squares.

Turin has the fuller calendar, with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, concerts at the Lingotto, jazz clubs and festivals through the year.

Turin is the calmer of the two. Long coffee breaks in historic cafés, evening walks under the arcades and quiet afternoons in Valentino park keep the pace slow, though the nearest thermal baths are nearly two hours away.

Palermo is loud with scooters and market cries, and you find rest in pockets: the Orto Botanico, the cloisters and the seafront walk at the Foro Italico. The spa waters at Termini Imerese are closer, but visitors who want real quiet usually stay outside the city.