Siena or Turin?

Neither city is a beach destination, and from both the sea is a full day out. From Siena the sandy Maremma coast around Castiglione della Pescaia and Follonica is well over an hour by car, and day to day a swim means an agriturismo pool. Turin's nearest sea is the Ligurian Riviera near Savona and Varazze, a little further away, but it has lakes as an alternative: Avigliana and Viverone nearby, and Lago Maggiore further out.

Both cities cook their own regional food well, but Turin has more depth. Agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato and Langhe truffles, Barolo and Barbaresco, the vermouth and aperitivo it invented, gianduja and bicerin in the arcaded cafés, and the huge Porta Palazzo market give a food lover several days of eating.

Siena's table is narrower but honest: pici, ribollita and cinta senese pork in family osterie in the contrade, with panforte and ricciarelli from old bakeries. With Chianti Classico and Brunello by the glass, its wine matches Turin's. What it cannot match is the range of cooking.

The two are equally rewarding, in opposite ways. In Siena the town itself is the sight: an intact medieval centre around the Campo, Lorenzetti's frescoes of Good and Bad Government, the Duomo with its inlaid floor, and Duccio's Maestà next door. It can all be covered on foot in two or three days.

Turin is a royal capital built around great collections: the Museo Egizio, the Royal Palace, and the Savoy residences out to Venaria. A modern thread runs through it too, with cinema in the Mole, the car museum, the Lingotto and contemporary art at Rivoli. Choose Siena for medieval painting and townscape, and Turin for a longer, more varied list of museums.

Turin has a real evening culture, while Siena mostly has dinner. In Turin the aperitivo leads on to wine and cocktail bars in the Quadrilatero Romano, crowded pavements in San Salvario, the riverside Murazzi in summer and a few clubs in old industrial buildings.

Siena winds down before midnight. There is a glass of wine on the Campo, a handful of student pubs and almost no clubs, and only the nights around the Palio keep the streets full until late.

Around Siena the outdoors means rolling farmland rather than mountains. The bare clay hills of the Crete Senesi and the Val d'Orcia are made for looking at, and road and gravel cyclists come for the white strade bianche that start at the edge of town. Walkers can follow stretches of the Via Francigena or the wooded Montagnola, and Monte Amiata has a little skiing. There are no high peaks.

From Turin the Alps line the horizon, and they are close enough to use. The Gran Paradiso, with its ibex and high trails, and the slopes around Sestriere are about an hour or so away, with skiing in winter and hut-to-hut hiking and climbing in summer. Nearer to town, paths climb to Superga and cycle routes follow the Po, so Turin is the better base for an active trip.

Both are excellent bases, but Siena has more within easy reach. San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, the Chianti villages, Volterra, Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano and abbeys such as Sant'Antimo and San Galgano are all close by, and Florence is a bus ride away, though the hill towns really need a car.

Turin's list is shorter but more varied. It has the Langhe wine villages and Alba, the Sacra di San Michele on its rock, Milan by fast train in about an hour, and Genoa and Aosta at about two. More of these trips can be done by rail.

Turin is the easier city with children. Its flat grid and long arcades suit a pushchair. The lift up through the Mole, the mummies, the car museum, the planetarium and the rack railway to Superga give children plenty to do, and a zoo park at Cumiana makes a day out by car.

Siena is safe and largely free of cars, and older children enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia. But its steep streets and lack of anything aimed at children lead most families to stay at a countryside farmhouse with a pool.

You walk the centre in both cities, but Turin's is flat and arcaded. It also has a driverless metro line, trams and good rail links to the rest of Italy. Siena's centre is smaller and mostly closed to cars, but it sits on three ridges with steep, stepped lanes. Escalators climb up from the station in the valley, trains are slow, and the countryside really needs a car.

Siena's shopping is mostly about local things to carry home: hand-painted majolica, contrada scarves and flags, panforte, pecorino and wine. Banchi di Sopra and Via di Città add leather goods, shoes and stationers, and the large weekly market around the Fortezza Medicea is the liveliest place to browse. There is nothing for designer shopping.

Turin is a much larger city and offers far more choice. Big-name labels sit under the arcades of Via Roma, Via Garibaldi is a long pedestrian street of mainstream shops, antique dealers cluster along Via Maria Vittoria, and the Balon flea market fills the streets behind Porta Palazzo on Saturdays. Its chocolate makers and truffle delicatessens are the most distinctive buys, though serious designer shoppers will still find the list short.

Turin gives more for the money. Central hotels are fairly priced except during big trade fairs, a generous aperitivo can stand in for dinner, and public transport is inexpensive.

Siena has few rooms inside its walls, and they cost more in summer and around the Palio. Osteria lunches are good value, but entry to the cathedral complex and the civic museums adds up. Staying in the countryside outside town is the usual way to save.

Siena's musical life peaks in summer. That is when the Accademia Chigiana holds concerts and masterclasses in palaces and churches, and Siena Jazz adds performances by its teachers and students. In winter the Teatro dei Rinnovati and the Teatro dei Rozzi stage drama and music, but for opera or a major orchestra you go to Florence.

In Turin the season runs all year and on a bigger scale. The Teatro Regio stages opera and ballet, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra plays in its own auditorium, and Renzo Piano's hall at the Lingotto hosts more concerts. The Teatro Carignano puts on theatre, almost all of it in Italian. Jazz clubs and long-running festivals of classical, jazz and electronic music round out the calendar.

Siena is the better place to unwind because hot springs are close by. There are travertine pools at Rapolano Terme about half an hour away, the steaming medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni, the free woodland pools of Bagni San Filippo and spa hotels out in the hills. Turin's calm comes from long café breaks and walks along the Po and through Valentino park, but its nearest thermal baths, at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley, are close to two hours away.