Hi Andrew
5 weeks certainly gives decent time to experience the cities, though after a while you might get frustrated by another round of packing, checking out, transfer, checking in and unpacking. The sections when you’ll have the car should be fine, but those involving public transport other than taxis can cause that frustration. Indeed with a car the option of a road trip element can come into play, perhaps using the excellent agriturismo farmstays as nightly bases.
Milano Malpensa not my favourite airport, but what you know often makes it better, plus whichever flights give you the best departure / return airport, plus the best timed flights, definitely factors into any decision. It’s not much further than Torino Caselle airport, though I very much prefer that airport. Torino has a lot less flights though. As an alternative, could you go open jaw, arriving in Malpensa and leaving from Bologna or Verona. Both airports are a short taxi ride from the centre, so pretty convenient.
Whilst Milano isn’t my favourite city, it may make sense to stay there, and you could consider staying there at the start whilst you get over jet lag, then hire a car from the city to drive to the Langhe. Whilst the ideal is often a rural stay to better shake jet lag off, it’s also good to avoid driving when groggy from the flight.
April/May a super time to go, with some superb new season fruit (fragoline and nespole very high on my list, but the kiwi fruit we found in a wonderful fruttivendolo in Torino was like sherbet Kiwi, so vibrant was the acidity). There are also some good wild mushrooms, including porcini which was a surprise at first when we found some in Cuneo.
Based on time of year / the other locations, I’ll agree with the suggestion to stay in the Langhe rather than Alba. It’s not a long drive to get into Alba if you want, and the new parking by the train station was convenient and inexpensive when we last went there. I’d also look to grab as much as a week here to increase the rural vs. city balance, plus there is of course so many wonderful wineries (and don’t ignore the walking - it’s excellent, straight through all those famous vineyards).
Cinque Terre paths are rather heavily touristed, in large part down to Rick Steves and his popular guidebook. Even off-peak, this can make it feel like a conveyor belt of people, mostly non-Italian, with a large proportion not realising this as English speaker after English speaker shouts ‘Buongiorno’ to English speaker after English speaker . Do check up on which paths are open before going, and spring rains can cause landslides putting one or more out of action. There is a charge to use the paths, but given the conservation efforts of the locals, I think it’s perfectly valid. If you’re energetic, I’d recommend the path from the coast inland. They are more strenuous, buy not stupidly so, plus when the coastal paths are open, there’s no-one on these paths, making them a lovely opportunity to find some peace. Renting an apartment is pretty common here, and that’s always suited us. The local seafood very good, but also the piedine (flatbreads) that typically replace the bread in a sandwich, but are also nice fresh to accompany a light lunch at the apartment. The white wines good, but unfussy, whilst Sciacchetra is the somewhat expensive local ‘meditation’ wine. I’ll put in a couple of good words for nearby places. Portovenere is the more obvious recommendation, and I found it surprisingly charming and well worth the short boat trip to spend a few hours there. The other is slightly more unusual - La Spezia. It is a fairly unremarkable small port city, but as so often with unremarkable places in Italy, has a lovely life-affirming evening passeggiata, where babies are paraded and cooed over, whilst gossip and chit chat shared. It’s a joy that many tourists miss, and perhaps that’s best, as if they ‘discovered’ it, it wouldn’t be the same.
I liked Genova, but not anywhere near as much as Torino, and there are quite a number of Italian cities I’d visit in preference to it. That might sound like damning with faint praise, so I will reiterate that I liked it. The central shopping area is nicely laid out and with some fine shops (and they have the place I get deodorants from - Kelemata, so I’d invariably drop in to pick up a dozen or so of the arome e spezie range). The covered market is excellent, though sadly we didn’t have an apartment on those visits, so I was mostly limited to browsing. The old town on the way down to the port has character and well worth a stroll, though it did fell like it had a smidgen of edge to it. Nothing to stress about, and I really don’t think of it as dangerous, but something to be vaguely aware of in case you’re sensitive to such things.
I’ll make a case for swapping Torino in for one of the other cities. Logistically it’s super easy from Milano on the ES / Freccia trains, and for food, wine, easy layout and things to see and do, I’ve yet to find anywhere I prefer in Italy.
Finally one practical option if driving from (or back to) Milano Malpensa, that’s about 20-25 minutes away by car. We’ve stayed in a lovely agriturismo in Ghemme, called Il Cavenago. They do food, typically only at weekends (Fri night, Sat night & Sun lunch) and it’s a wonderful agriturismo multi-course banquet. The highlight typically in the usually unsung primi, as their risotto has been stunning at times, most strikingly with an intense basil risotto that left me with a daft grin on my face. The grounds, rooms (big old oak) and building are lovely, as are the grounds that house bats that we love seeing as the sun goes down before the evening meal. They grow a lot of their own food, including geese. One word of caution though… their driveway is somewhat steep an unsealed (and hence rutted). Calm and steady and it’s fine, though we can’t imagine the fun had by the owner of the sports car we saw parked there one year.
I hope this helps.
p.s. if you want somewhere 30 mins drive from Verona, with apartment in stunning grounds with an equally stunning spread for breakfast included, have a look at Massimago (also a winery) in Mezzane di Sotto. Might be a little early in the year to swim in their lovely pool, but walks in the grounds / through their vineyards would be good.