We have been to Italy 5 or 6 times and have enjoyed all the above places - but here's another thought - we were Venice for our son's wedding last month and decided to rent a car at the airport and from there drove north through the Prosecco Wine Road. It was beautiful and many people asked us how did we get so far off the "tourist road" - they seldom seen people from the U.S. in that region. We used the town of Conegliano as our base. After two days exploring the wine road (we also did the Wine Roads through France, and this is certainly comparable) - we spent a week exploring the Dolomites. The towns and scenery were wonderful, especially Ortisei/St. Ulrich, Cortina and Bolzano. To me the Dolomites were one of the most beautiful mountain ranges we've seen in Europe.

We also spent a week in Venice a few years ago in early April. It was magical. The crowds were gone, the weather was good, but chilly, and we felt we had Venice to ourselves. This last time there, a completely different story with 3 cruise ships in and hordes of tourists.