Dear All,
A tiny trip report on this: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/northern-italian-itinerary-1-month-trip
The voyage worked out to be something like this:
Fly to Milan: 4 nights
Bergamo: 2 nights
Brescia: 1 night
Riva del Garda: 3 nights
The Dolomites: 4 nights
Trento: 3 nights
Trieste: 4 nights
Venice: 4 nights
Vicenza: 2 nights
Milan: 1 night, fly home
This was a solid month, and it was extremely successful from every angle. The pace was qucik, but thrilling.
I would like to say thanks to Laurel, Roberto, Laura, Ken, Zoe, and many others who chimed in frequently with very helpful suggestions and answers to questions during my planning process. I owe you!
Our best discoveries of the trip were Trento, Brescia, and Trieste - all quite off the regular American tourist path and interesting in their distinct ways. Brescia is full of history dating to the Roman era, which the town has preserved and displayed better than many other cities which boast similar historical interest. So Brescia is the place that, if I could do this over again, I'd visit for a longer stay. It's a beautiful, authentic city - quiet in the summer but with a "real" feeling to it that you don't see everywhere.
In the Dolomites we managed to hike way up to a mountain refuge in the Val di Siusi and stayed overnight in chilly temperatures at 6000 ft.
The best food of the trip would have to be in Trieste, where we had amazing Adriatic seafood, explored the harbor and the bustling central-european flavored city, and tasted coffee that beats almost any in Europe.
Venice and Vicenza need no explanation from me - they are well on the tourist map. We skipped Verona this time, but will be back.
Milan was an easy place to enjoy for us New Yorkers, and we really enjoyed what it had to offer. The mix of architectural styles from the 19th and 20th centuries was right up our alley, and there are enough museums and galleries (not to mention restaurants and shopping) that I could have spent another week there before getting bored. Suffice to say, our 4 nights there were not sufficient except in the context of this whirlwind trip.
Thanks again to those who provided insight - and sorry if I forgot to thank anyone.