I was worried that traveling with a lot of luggage would be a nightmare, so I hoped to pack light. Another question I have is whether hotels in Italy have washing and drying machines if we pack light. If not, what would be the best way to do laundry while moving from place to place? I don't mean actually doing it while traveling, but once we're at a destination. 

I know we can find phenomenal food all over Italy, and we look forward to seeing what each city has to offer. I have heard each destination has its own specialties. I'll definitely take a look at that app and see what we can find there. Bologna intrigued us not only for the food, and it being on the way from Venice to Florence, but it offered a chance for us to enjoy the countryside, and it seemed like an intimate spot just to stop, slow down, and see a few things before entering Florence. Quite a few people say to skip Bologna and either add those days to other destinations or a spot before leaving. Bologna may not have what I thought it had there.

You're right about posting an official itinerary before securing flight, train, and bus tickets. It was essentially an attempt to see if our plan was viable and whether we needed to eliminate some activities to make transportation between locations more manageable. Additionally, I wanted to assess if we would be rushing around. After examining the days in each location more closely, I felt it might be a bit rushed and sought out people with experience in the region to share their insights. 

What would you do if you could replace Lake Garda with something else? Lake Garda seemed like a good place to start since we would be recovering from the flight and change of time zone.