Rome or Turin?

Rome has a real if modest option. Ostia's dark volcanic sand is about half an hour away by suburban train, and Fregene is more relaxed. The water is warm in high summer, though rarely clear, and the beaches fill with Romans at weekends.

Turin has no sea within easy reach. The Ligurian Riviera is nearly two hours away, so locals cool off at small lakes such as Avigliana instead. If a swim matters to your trip, only Rome lets you fit one into an ordinary day.

Both cities eat very well, but in different ways. Rome's strength is plain trattoria cooking and street food. Think carbonara and cacio e pepe, Jewish-style artichokes in the Ghetto, supplì and pizza al taglio, and offal dishes in Testaccio, all with modest local wine.

Turin's cooking is richer and more exact: agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato, autumn white truffles from the Langhe, and Barolo on every wine list. It is also the home of vermouth, the aperitivo, gianduja and bicerin. Turin is the better city for wine and sweet things, Rome the better one for eating on the go.

This is where Rome pulls far ahead. It has the Forum, the Palatine, the Pantheon and the Colosseum, Bernini's and Borromini's piazzas and churches, and then the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and the Borghese. A week still leaves things out.

Turin is rewarding on a smaller scale. The Museo Egizio is world class, and the Savoy palaces, the Shroud's cathedral and the Cinema Museum inside the Mole are well worth seeing. Its industrial story at the Lingotto and its contemporary art at Rivoli give it a character of its own. Two or three days cover the essentials.

Rome has a little more going on, and most of it happens outdoors. Trastevere's lanes stay crowded with wine drinkers late into the night, and Monti, San Lorenzo and Pigneto each draw a different crowd. Clubbing is a minor part of the scene in both cities.

Turin's evenings centre on the aperitivo, then move to the bars of the Quadrilatero Romano and the pavements of San Salvario, with the Murazzi by the Po in summer. It is sociable but quieter, especially outside university term.

Turin has the Alps on its doorstep. The Gran Paradiso's ibex and high trails, ski touring in the Susa valley and the Via Lattea slopes are all about an hour away, and closer in there are the Superga hills and the Mandria forest.

Rome's green spaces are gentler and more historic: the villa parks and the Appian Way, where a bike ride passes tombs and aqueducts. The crater lakes of the Alban Hills are close by, but real mountains take about ninety minutes, and summer heat limits what you can do outdoors.

Both make excellent bases, and Rome has the edge in range. Ostia Antica, Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este at Tivoli, the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia, cliff-top Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio are all close by, and fast trains reach Florence and Naples in about ninety minutes.

Turin's days out are more about landscape and wine. There are Barolo and Barbaresco in the Langhe, truffles at Alba and Slow Food at Bra, with the Sacra di San Michele on its rock and Milan an hour away by train.

Turin is the easier city with children. Its centre is flat, the arcades give shade and shelter, crowds are light, and the glass lift through the Mole, the car museum and the Egyptian mummies keep older children interested. A large open-habitat zoo park at Cumiana is within a short drive.

Rome has gladiators, catacombs, the Bioparco in Villa Borghese and daily gelato. But the long queues at the big sights, the cobbles that are hard on pushchairs, the heavy traffic and the summer heat make each day more tiring for parents.

Turin is simpler to navigate. The centre is a flat grid with kilometres of arcades, the walk from Porta Nuova to the Mole and the river is straightforward, and a driverless metro line runs out to Lingotto.

Rome's centre is just as walkable, and the streets between the Colosseum, the Pantheon and Trastevere are half the pleasure. Still, the cobbles, scooters and heat wear you down, and the metro hardly reaches the historic core, which leaves you relying on slow buses and trams.

Rome is the stronger shopping city, especially for fashion. The big Italian houses line Via Condotti and the streets around the Spanish Steps, and Monti adds independent designers and vintage. Porta Portese is a huge Sunday flea market, and leather and handmade shoes are good buys.

Turin has luxury labels under the arcades of Via Roma and a monthly Gran Balon flea market. What it does best is food to take home: chocolate, gianduiotti, truffles, cheese and Piedmontese wine. Serious designer shoppers will find its range thin.

Turin is noticeably cheaper. Central hotels are fairly priced for most of the year, an aperitivo spread can replace dinner, and transport costs little. Spending only climbs with fine dining and the truffle season.

In Rome, accommodation drives the cost. Central rooms are small, expensive and scarce in spring and autumn, and the Vatican, the Colosseum and the Borghese all charge substantial entry fees. Free drinking fountains and churches full of art help, as does staying outside the centre.

The two are broadly level, and each even has a Renzo Piano concert hall. Rome's standout is summer opera among the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, along with the Santa Cecilia orchestra and frequent sacred music in its churches.

Turin offers a steadier year-round programme instead: a full season at the Teatro Regio, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and festivals of jazz and electronic music. In both cities theatre is in Italian, so visitors mostly stick to music.

Neither city has a living bathing culture, so in both, wellness inside the city means hotel spas. Rome's thermal water is nearer, though. The springs at Bagni di Tivoli are just outside the city, and there are free hot pools around Viterbo.

Turin makes up for its distant spas, about two hours away at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley, with a calmer everyday pace. Unhurried cafés, arcades and the Po riverside are a gentler setting than Rome's noisy, scooter-filled centre.