Driving in Northern Italy - advice please

opinions4u

Using the Avios points to hire a car for a week. The plan is to drive across northern Italy.

I'm not a regular hirer of cars so what should I be aware of?

- need for top up insurances?
- any other additional costs?
- risks on return?
- refuelling?
- anything else?

opinions4u

A few supplementary questions then.

Looking at an early Summer break where the fixed schedule is:

Sunday night - land in Milan, pick up hire car, stay in nearby hotel.
Monday - drive to the south east side of Lake Garda.
Monday to Thursday - stay at camp site.
Friday - stay in Padova hotel.
Saturday - head back to Milan and stay overnight.
Sunday - fly home.

So:

1) The drive from Milan to camp site looks like a two hour event taking the most logical route. We're willing to make this a driving / scenery day though. Are there better routes, perhaps heading further north, that would deliver this?

2) I'd anticipate Tuesday to Thursday being a couple of on site days and one explore day. Is a drive into Austria and back realistic and / or worthwhile?

3) On the Saturday is it worth heading east and spending a couple of hours in Venice, before heading back to Milan?

Any other suggestions welcome.