Fly to Milan and drive directly North to
Sondrio area. Super quiet compared to Como and the like, while still being able to day trip there. The whole valley has south facing wine producers. The food is a really cool mix of Italian, German, Austrian. There is a bike path that runs the length of the valley, along a river and hotels/ Airbnb's were super cheap there. There is a ton of hiking in the region.
It was one of our best vacations we did while living in The Netherlands.