Venice, Lake Como and ???

Cinque Terre is too far, but the Alba/Asti area would offer something different. I've heard many wonderful things about Turin for some city time--though you would probably want to drop the car there.

Perhaps a day trip to Cinque Terre?

That would be a day mostly devoted to travel with very little 'being there'

Trains do have space for luggage, so a rental car is not necessary just because "we will be traveling with luggage".

If you like Italian wine Asti/Alba would be a nice treat. We stayed in the town on Barolo which was quite fun. Easy drive to back Milan.

CT is too far. Lots of cute towns in Veneto - you could also visit the Dolomites than head to Lake Como

I haven't been to Verona. I have been to Padua, and it is worth more time than you'll have there if you stop in Padua and Verona while driving from Venice to Varenna. You could spend multiple nights in Padua (where hotels are a good bit less expensive than in Venice) and take side trips from there. Vicenza, Verona and Ferrara can all be reached in less than an hour by train. I haven't checked the driving times.

Since acraven mentioned it, that would be my impulse if it were my trip--more time in the areas you have already selected. While you are in Venice, you will want to be in Venice only, and while you are in Varenna, you will want to enjoy the lake, so an intermediate stop would be lovely. I just saw an episode of "House Hunters International" in Vicenza, and it looked gorgeous as well. (I get lots of travel ideas from that show, lol!) You could then get all those little towns in at a more leisurely pace, freeing up your Varenna time in case you want to veer north. You might squeeze in a day trip to Ravenna too.

I've been to Verona 3 times (I love it there) and spent 3 days in Padua which was too much. I would also recommend Brescia (Hotel Vittorio). It's centrally located for day trips to Bergamo and Mantova (which may require more than one day trip), It's also not very touristy.

My husband and I are going to be in northern Italy in mid-May too! So many options along your route, and no need to go all the way down to the CT. Rick Steves doesn't cover a lot on this area, but there's lots of info elsewhere.

• Verona is an elegant and charming city. I hear that going to the opera at the arena is a reasonably priced event (but I haven't checked myself). There are wine tours in the general area, if that sort of thing attracts you.

• Lots to see and do on Lake Garda -- look at Riva del Garda

• the Dolomites are gorgeous

• there are also many spa-hotels across the north, if you're interested in those and need names, let me know. They're sort of pricey and tend to have a 3 day minimum stay.

• at the south end of Lake Garda there's a sunken castle called Sirmione, which looks like a cool thing to check out

• do you have interests? Cycling? Hiking? Cooking? My nephew is really into cars, and he spent 4 days in Maranello visiting Ferrari, but also touring restaurants in the area, which are supposed to be excellent.

If you need more ideas, let me know. I have a stack of books on the region, but they're upstairs and I'm cooking dinner right now. Happy to look for more ideas for you later if you need them tho.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I believe i am going change trip a bit, spend a few days on Lake Garda prior to Varenna, so that i can spend more time in Varona and small towns around the area.

Saló is a lovely lakefront town on Lake Garda, not on Americans’ radar. An Italian friend recommended it to us. SW part of lake.