Agreed we would wait two years to return - NOT - Need help planning

Sue, are you looking for suggestions about other interesting destinations in the areas you plan to cover? If so:

• Padua and Vicenza, both along the Verona-Venice rail line. Padua is larger and would be my choice as the base. You could also do day-trips from Verona, but there's quite a lot to see in Padua and I was glad to have more than one day there. The Scrovegni Chapel requires a timed ticket.

• I haven't been to Ferrara, but others have really liked it. It's visitable from either Padua or Bologna, again by train.

• Ravenna can be seen by rail on a day-trip from Bologna. It has six or seven magnificent mosaic sites, plus a lovely historic district, so plan for a longish day. It would also be a very pleasant place to spend a night. The town was amazingly under-touristed when I was there in 2015. See it before that changes.

• The lakes are also within reach.

• The cities of Bolzano (substantially larger) and Bressanone are both very pretty. You'll be going through Bolzano on your way from Bologna to Ortisei. Bolzano has Otzi, the Ice Man, and some other worthwhile museums. Should you decide to spend a night or two in one of those towns on the way to Ortisei, be aware that you may still need air conditioning in September. They are valley cities, not at altitude, and can be very hot. Many moderately priced hotels in that area are not air conditioned.

Sorry I wasn't clear on my post. I listed the places we have decided to base ourselves and was wondering how many nights you would spend in each place.

Thanks for the suggestions.

For me that would depend greatly on what side-trips I wanted to take from each base. Actually, a roughly even distribution doesn't look wildly off base to me, but I'm very fond of side-trips to small towns and medium-sized cities. I suggest having specific side-trip plans for CT and Lucca before committing to more than 3 nights in CT and 2 in Lucca.

27 days is a heck of a long time, so really can break up any way you prefer without fear of missing anything.
I agree with you to stay a few nights in the Cinque Terre it is lovely!

Rome - arrival city: 6 nights
Cinque Terre: 3 or 4 nights
Lucca: 7 nights ; sounds like you want to day trip from here so I extended this stop
Bologna: 3 nights
Ortisei: 5 nights
Verona - flying back from here: 2 nights

•5 nights in Rome
•5 nights in Bologna
(Possible days to Parma, Modena, Ferrara, Ravenna)
•3 nights in Cinque Terre
Pick up car in La Spezia
•4 nights in Lucca & N Tuscany
(Possible days to Pistoia, Viareggio, Volterra)
•5 nights in Ortisei & Dolomites
Return car in Verona
•5 nights in Verona
(Possible days to Lake Garda, Vicenza, Padova, Mantova)

Warning! You may find month-long (or longer) trips addicting. Ravenna as a day-trip from Bologna was great. Padua, too. Why flying back from Verona ?? (Just wondering, not challenging.)

Try to travel north to south and visit the Dolomites as early as you can in the month for better weather. We were in Ortisei mid-Sept and it was cold! Of course that can easily be the opposite case next year, but mountains are always harder to predict and your other locations should be pleasant to warm (in the case of Roma, still hot). I would make Roma the last stop and fly out of there. Perhaps fly into Milano and go immediately to the Dolomites.

Thanks for all of your recommendations. I'm taking lots of notes.

Laurel makes a great point, the cities you listed them work better for weather and crowds if done in reverse order for the month of Sept.
(prefer Rome and Cinque Terre later in Sept and Dolomites earlier in Sept, the others I don't think matter)

We visited Verona during a festival called Tocatì, the International Street Game Festival which lasts multiple days
It takes place every year in Sept. around the middle of the month, may not work out with your plans but was a cool time to visit the downtown area. The city though crowded was really alive and festive!