Pisa or Verona?

Pisa has a real coastline and the edge here. West of the city, the Arno mouth opens onto rocky breakwaters at Marina di Pisa. Further south, Tirrenia and Calambrone have long, wide sandy beaches under the pines, with shallow sea and Versilia a short train ride beyond.

Verona's water is a lake rather than the sea. Garda's southern shore is clearer and calmer than the sea near the Arno, but the beaches are narrow lidos, lawns and pebbles, plus Sirmione's limestone shelves, and they fill up at summer weekends. In both cities the swim is a break from sightseeing, but in Pisa it is the easier and roomier one.

Verona eats better, and its biggest advantage is wine. Valpolicella, Amarone, Soave and Bardolino are all made within a short drive. Its Veneto cooking, such as Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito misto with pearà, is served in wood-panelled osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta.

Pisa's table is plainer Tuscan food: ribollita, game, salt cod and hot cecina from wood ovens, best eaten around the Vettovaglie market. Neither city has much range, and both serve their weakest meals beside their most famous monument.

Pisa's sights are concentrated on one great square. The cathedral, baptistery, Leaning Tower and Camposanto make an extraordinary ensemble, with Piazza dei Cavalieri, Santa Maria della Spina and the San Matteo museum as quieter extras.

Verona has more layers across a whole city. Roman amphitheatre and theatre, Scaliger tombs, the Romanesque San Zeno and Castelvecchio's museum fill two or three days, where Pisa is covered in two.

Both cities go to bed fairly early, and neither has a club scene in the centre. The difference is in who sets the tone. In Pisa it is students drinking in the little squares by the old market during term, and the coast's beach bars in summer.

Verona's evenings are built around the aperitivo, with spritz and Valpolicella in Piazza delle Erbe, and younger bars across the river in Veronetta. In summer, the opera crowd pouring out of the Arena near midnight gives the centre a late lift that Pisa lacks.

Both have good country close by, but of different kinds. Pisa looks towards the sea: San Rossore's pine forest, wetland and wild dunes start at the city's edge, with deer, flat cycling, birdwatching on Lake Massaciuccoli, and the Apuan Alps further off.

Verona looks towards the Alps. It has vineyard walks in Valpolicella and the long Adige cycle route. Monte Baldo's ridges rise above Garda, with sailing and windsurfing at the lake's northern end, and the Lessinia plateau offers beech woods and gorges.

Both are excellent bases, so the choice is really between Tuscany and the Veneto. From Pisa, Florence is an hour by train, Lucca under half an hour and the Cinque Terre a little over an hour. Siena is under two hours by train with a change at Empoli, and only the hill towns of Volterra and San Gimignano really need a car.

From Verona, Vicenza's Palladio and Padua's Giotto frescoes lie on the fast line towards Venice, which is itself about an hour and ten minutes away. A regional train reaches Gonzaga Mantua in under an hour, and the Garda towns and the cellars of Valpolicella and Soave are closer still.

Verona has much more aimed at children. Gardaland, the water parks around southern Garda and the drive-through safari at Parco Natura Viva are all about half an hour away. In town, the Arena tends to fire young imaginations.

Pisa's appeal for families is simpler: the tower lawn to run about on, a tower climb for older children only, shallow sandy beaches and bike rides in San Rossore. In both cities the family days need a transfer and summer heat needs planning around.

Pisa is the easier of the two. An automatic shuttle train links the airport to the central station. From there you can walk to the cathedral square in about half an hour, and the station's role as a western Tuscan rail hub makes trips out simple without a car.

Verona's centre inside the river loop is just as walkable and largely free of traffic. However, the station is a bus ride or twenty minutes' walk from Piazza Bra, and the Valpolicella villages, the Lessinia and some Garda attractions are hard to reach without a car.

Verona is the better place to shop. Marble-paved Via Mazzini carries Italian fashion labels, and Corso Porta Borsari has boutiques and jewellers. The best things to take home are Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro.

Pisa offers high-street chains on Corso Italia, smarter shops and old pastry shops under the arcades of Borgo Stretto, and a monthly antiques market by the river. For serious shopping, Pisa sends you to Florence and Verona sends you to Milan.

Pisa is the cheaper stay. Its central rooms are mid-range, and the student trattorias keep meals honest. The main expenses are the tower climb and seaside loungers in high summer.

In Verona the cost is mainly the room. Hotels in the historic centre are dear for a provincial city, and they become scarce on opera nights and during trade fairs. Wine counters, Veronetta's osterie and local bottles are good value, and staying near the station or across the river helps.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Verona's summer opera in the Roman Arena draws thousands to the stone tiers for Verdi and Puccini on most evenings. The Roman theatre adds Shakespeare, dance and jazz outdoors, and the Teatro Filarmonico covers the cooler months.

Pisa has the horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi, with an unpretentious season from autumn to spring, plus university chamber concerts and the odd church recital. For anything bigger you go to Florence.

Both cities are calm once you leave their famous squares, and both have Roman-era springs just outside town. Pisa's is San Giuliano Terme, with its 18th-century bath palace below the Monte Pisano, plus Casciana Terme's larger pool inland.

Verona's warm water comes with a lake view. Sirmione's thermal centre has pools facing Garda, and near Lazise a spring-fed lake lies in an old villa garden.