travel ideas for northern italy

I would recommend Cinque Terre and the Lombardy Lakes (e.g., Lake Como) region. There's also Florence and Milan, if you're looking for cities. If you're not just wanting to stay in in the North, consider heading south of Rome to the Naples/Sorrento/Amalfi Coast area.

yes, Como is beautiful, but expensive. My husband goes there every year on business and he says the Italians don't even like to shop there 'cause its so expensive. Go to Bologna, the gastronomic heart of Emilia-Romagna, also Modena.

We loved Verona and if you could be there on Saturday night, the almost perfect passagiatta or stroll is even better. Piazza Bra is a great site for fun and people watching. Padua has the Scrovegni (sp?)Chapel and a few other things but might be better for one day or half day. Goodluck. George, Pittsburgh

It depends how much driving you want to do. Closer places would be Mantua, Padua, or even Vicenza. Otherwise if you feel more like driving you could head towards Lake Garda, going to Peschiera, Desenzano, or Salo. Lake Garda also has some beaches and you can swim there if you want.
Other places are Lecco, Como, and any of those towns along the lakes, though the Valleys north of Bergamo and Brescia are wonderful too, Val Brembana, Val Seriana, Val Camonica, Val Imagna to give you an idea.
Bolzano is another beautiful place, and if you were really feeling ambitious you could got the Valtellina, near Sondrio. These are all places where you won't find many tourists from North America, mostly Italians and other Europeans.

I also really liked Verona. A loop through the Dolomites between stops in Venice and Verona would be time well spent. A couple of days in Venice, two days through the Dolomites and a day in Verona would be good or you could slow it down and take more time.

You are close to Tuscany, so Florence and the hilltowns would be ideal. You can stay in an agritourismo and take day trips to the many hilltowns - the famous (Montepulciano, Montalcino, Siena) and the obscure (Lucignano, San Quirico d'Orcia, Monte San Savino). And the food is outstanding in the entire region.

If you are at all interested in cars and/or racing history, you should check out the very impressive Galleria Ferrari in Modena. Definitely worth a stop if that's your thing, but we also ended up really liking the city, too.