Northwest Italy

The Eyewitness Guide series includes a book intended for drivers, titled "Back Roads Northern and Central Italy". It might be helpful to you. You can probably find a used copy online.

I haven't driven in Europe myself, so I can't offer any tips of my own.

Flesh it out first, then decide where the car is best used and best pick up and drop off locations. You can easily group CT and Genoa (no car) and Turin and Milan (no car)--it's the middle you need to focus on. There are many ways you could do the order, but until you know where you will be focusing, no point in throwing darts. Once you subtract Turin, Genoa, Milan, and CT, you have less than a week to work with.
Cars are reportedly expensive this year. If you find it problematic, your back-up could be the lakes and Ligurian coast, as both are easily enjoyed without a car. If you really want a rural driving experience though, I'd be looking at the Piedmont.

You won't need a car in Milan, Cinque Terre, Genoa and Turin.
You could leave the above locations at the beginning and end of your trip.
Since Malpensa airport (MXP) is sort of half way between Milan and Turin you could have this itinerary:
MXP> Milan>Genoa>Cinque Terre>rent a car in La Spezia to roam countryside>return car in Turin> bus to MXP (spend last night at MXP Sheraton.
You could also do the exact reverse.
However if you intend to visit the lakes maybe it makes sense to put Turin in the middle and keep the car while there.
MXP> Milan>Genoa>Cinque Terre>rent a car in La Spezia>West Riviera>Piedmont (including Turin)>Lake Maggiore/Lake Orta>MXP

For the day in Turin you just need to find a hotel with parking preferably just outside the ZTL (Limited Traffic Zone, which is closed to non residents' cars) and rely on taxis (or bus/trolleys) to get you to the city center. The map of the ZTL is in the website at the bottom. Search using Booking.com and filter hotels with parking, then take a look on the map. However most of the ZTL of Turin is operative only Mon-Fri mornings (some streets and piazzas are totally pedestrians, so those are always off limits), therefore if you can manage to visit Turin on a weekend, you don't have to worry too much about ZTL or heavy traffic.

https://www.accessibilitacentristorici.it/ztl/piemonte/torino.html

You could drive from the Cinque Terre (or from Genoa) to the Langhe Wine Country, roam around for a couple of days, drop the car in Alba and take a train to Turin. This way you could choose an hotel inside Turin's ZTL without worries.

Hello,
Even though I have done a bit of planning for travel, I'm finding this trip to be a bit more complicated. But I do think that I'm getting somewhere with my planning. The itinerary is below and these are my questions:
? Interesting towns along driving route
? Car friendly overnight accommodations in Turino, Parma, Montova and Bergamo (i.e. avoiding ztl)
? Car friendly overnight accommodation near Malpensa Airport

ITINENARY
A slight change in Itinerary... We are arriving into Malpensa on an early flight and plan to stay in Milan for 2 nights. On the third day we'd rent a car from the Malpensa Airport and drive to Turino where we again will stay for 2 nights. We're thinking somewhere on the outskirts easily accessible by train to Turino. On day 5 we'll drive to Venazza (park the car in secure parking) and spend 2 nights. On the 7th day will retrieve our car to Parma and sleep there 1 night. Then drive to Montova use it as a base for 2 nights. On day 10 we'd visit Bergamo, maybe stay there. On day 11 drive to Varenna and stay there 2 nights. We have an early flight out on the day 14 so we need to find an ineresting place to stay not to far from the Malpensa airport.

I appreciate all your adivce.

Rather than staying in Turin/ Torino, consider Alba instead. It is surrounded by some wonderful wine villages.

Why are you driving from Malpensa to Turin when you are in Milan? You can take an high speed train from central Milan to Central Turin and be there in 50 minutes. According to your plan you'll waste 45 minutes only to get at Malpensa.

Did you look at a Map? MXP is halfway between Turin and Milan. To avoid backtracking, on day 1 you should take the bus from MXP to Turin and stay in Milan at the end of your yourney. Close to Cadorna station, if possible, to take the faster train to MXP. And to enjoy the Navigli district by night before flying home.

Timewise, Even the car journeys from Turin to Vernazza and from Vernazza to Parma do not make much sense. Unless you like driving in tunnels along mountain freeways, of course. It's not Tuscany, I am afraid. The Langhe Region is nice, but the moment you will be back on the freeway to head to Liguria, you'll see mostly factories and malls. Not many walled villages and cypresses.

There is a ZTL in any place you listed and having a room with parking does not always mean being on the white list.
"Car friendly" means "out of the city" center in the middle-sized towns you are visiting and "out of the city center" means you'll have to commute by bus to reach anything worth seeing. Again, it's not Tuscany. Bergamo is the industrial capital of North-eastern Italy, with a very nice district on top of the hill. Inside a ZTL.

Hi Dario,
Thanks for your advice. I'm so glad that we have not rented a car before I read your post. Since we already have accommodations in Milan for the first night, I thought we might as well stay two nights before securing a rental car. A rental car that we would like to return to the same location where we picked it up. Is it not interesting to drive from Malpensa to Turin? We thought that driving north of Turin would be beautiful. I have found possibilities for accommodations that include parking in Turin. Is Lombardy an interesting region to drive through? What if we drove up to Pavia then headed east and based ourselves at a car friendly three night accommodation in Montova to take trains to see other towns from there. Verona, Parma, Modena, etc. all around 1.5 hour train ride. Or do you think the countryside in that part of Lombardy is not beautiful enough to warrant a drive?

North of Turin

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=italian+job+1969+intro&view=detail&mid=A41BE0A9755C65F30572A41BE0A9755C65F30572&FORM=VIRE&msclkid=5bf18d8cb48411ecaa471c3d11ab79bf
On days like these.

While all Tuscany is beautiful, Some areas of Piedmont, Emilia-Romangna and Lombardy are very nice, others are dull and a few are fully industrialized. For example, The Red Belt around Turin is quite depressing, but there is also the Orta Lake north of Turin. And then the Aosta Valley. You must know where to go, you can't just roam around.

Then there are the Alps and the National Parks, those are quite beautiful if you have time to exit the motorways and take the secondary roads. Do you?

You need to determine what you are interested in and get a guide focused on Northwest Italy. I am sure you'd love driving around the Langhe wine country, but you can go from Turin to Alba by train and rent a car there. Or pick the car in Turin after a couple of days in the city center and drive to Alba.

Since you are driving there, Be aware that in Turin they turn the ZTL cameras off at 11 AM. Unfortunately there are some camera-controlled streets that are reserved to buses, licensed private drivers and cabs 24/7.

Pavia is nice, but I know nothing about the area around it. FWIK it could be the next big thing after Umbria.

Thanks for your insights which have influenced our plans. Considering the cost (especially petro) and risks of driving (avoiding ztl), we are considering less time with a car rental and more time on trains.