Lake Como to The Dolomites

For the Dolomites check out the regional website:
https://www.suedtirol.info/en/en/experiences-and-events

For Ortisei, I very highly recommend the book Easy Walks in Val Gardena by Laurel and Richard Barton. As the title suggests,, it has easy walks/hikes with very clear instructions on how to access each one, whether hiking books and/or poles are needed, places to top for snacks or meals etc. Laurel is a contributor to this forum. In Ortisei town, there is a little museum I found interesting.

I took the Bernina rail (regular train) as far as Pontresina and back; it is the same route as the Express but cheaper and more chances to make stops. If I were to spend 2 nights in a Swiss town along the route, I would probably choose Pontresina over Poschiavo or Tirano.

In case you are not totally set on having a car the whole time, you don't really need one for Lake Como or Ortisei/Val Gardena.

The Poschiavo to Ortisei leg is between two places that look deceptively close on the map, but are very distant traveling on land. If you drive, there is the notoriously tiring Stelvio Pass; if you go by train you have to backtrack to Milano, or do Pontresina-Samedan-Zernez, then bus to Malles, again a couple of trains to Bolzano and bus to Ortisei; it is a sort of adventure on wheels.

Milan has three airports, if you are flying into Malpensa check if you can go to Como by train&ferry from the airport and rent the car in Como. You won't drive around the lakes, nobody does: Nobody likes tunnels.

There is a ZTL in any place you mentioned, Verona and Varenna included. Which one is Verena?

Thanks for all your thoughts. And yes I misspelled Varenna. Typing too fast.

We have been to Italy many times and love driving, at least I do. I always get a manual transmission. Part of the fun. We are not on any time crunch, although I will carefully look at our route from place to place. Stressful driving is not fun.

I watched a bunch of videos of the Stelvio Pass. That is crazy!! I am going to show them to my wife before I even think about attempting it. I think she may faint just looking at them :). We shall see. If you had not mentioned it, I probably would have just taken it since it is a little faster than other routes. Thanks for the heads up.

Alpe di Suisse had nice flat hikes and stunning views!

the drive from Poschiavo to Ortisei doesn't have to go via the Stelvio Pass - I would (and the Umbrail) just for the fun of it, but I'd have a car with a manual gearbox and a suitable power/weight ratio. In an average hire car you'd go via Livigno and Müstair to get back into Italy.

Even Poschiavo to Livigno (Forcola pass), the La Schera tunnel and the Fuorn pass do not look an easy itinerary to me

Any recommendations for a cooking class in Bellagio. We saw one but looked pricey. $500 for two. Thanks