We are putting together a vacation in late April-May that starts with the first 8 or 10 days in northern Italy (flying into and out of Milan) followed by somewhere between 10 days and two weeks in Paris.
In Italy, we'll spend a couple of days around Milan and/or lakes in the area (e.g., Lago d'Orta, which isn't far from Malpensa airport) and will head out from there. We like settling down in one place (often fairly rural) for a while.
So my question for those who have gone to Italy is a choice between two regions to stay for about a week (1) in the vicinity of Lago di Garda and Verona; or (2) in the Piedmont region in the vicinity of Asti, Alba and Bra (no wisecracks about the name - it's the home of the Slow Food Movement).
Any thoughts of places to stay, unusual places to see, restaurants, wine regions, etc. would be appreciated to help us figure this out.
We have found some on-line advertisements for interesting and not terribly expensive B&Bs and apartments (60-90 euros/day) in both regions. We will be renting a car, which will give us flexibility to travel in villages and towns close to where we are staying and for longer day trips (maybe even one overnight). We could also take a train to get to places where the car would be unhelpful (for example if we wanted to go to Venice for a day from near Verona).