Northern Italy help!

My husband and I will be flying into Milan and spending a few days (without our kids! Woo!). We will be heading to Ascona, Switzerland for an event. We have roughly 3 days between Milan and Ascona to explore (September 4-6/7th). I have never been to Italy and plan on making a stop in Como since that is where my great grandparent's family is from. I am overwhelmed as there seems to be a lot of opinions around staying in como or other places. Unfortunately, I get very seasick so we will not be able to do any boat rides. Anyone have any suggestions around where we should stay and what we should do? We are hoping to only do public transportation/walking/cabs.

Thank you so much!