I spent a couple of days cycling while based along Lake Maggiore back in ‘95. Quite nice. Did some of the trail near Bassano mentioned above. Also very nice. That was in 2013.
Nothing else to add except to say Italian drivers are not as scary as some think. But you do need to follow the rules. A couple people in our group almost got creamed one day outside Bassano. In typical Philly fashion, they did not properly yield to a vehicle when entering a traffic circle.