Which rules and habits should I know before I arrive?

Many of the lake's trails use the waymarks of the CAI, the Italian Alpine Club: two red bands with a white one between, painted on rocks and trees, and a trail number. If waymarks are intermittent, check the route on an up-to-date map before continuing. The Sentiero del Viandante adds its own mark, an orange SV; the Greenway has its signboards with the wheel symbol; the Strada Regia its SR logo.

The CAI scale distinguishes walking routes (T), hiking routes (E) and routes for experienced hikers (EE). Via ferratas (EEA) require a harness, helmet and via ferrata set, plus technical skills. Snow and ice may require mountaineering equipment and skills: assess the route and conditions before setting off.

Check the weather and trail conditions before setting off. Allow for the climb, descent and available daylight. Carry water and check any refill points; if you plan a stop or an overnight stay, check whether the hut is open.

You swim at the lidos and beaches, inside the yellow buoys where there are any: they mark the zone reserved for bathers, which boats may not enter. You do not swim near the ferry piers, never off the piers themselves, and you do not swim across a stretch of lake, because a swimmer far from the shore is hard to see from a boat. Water temperature varies with the season and depth. Before swimming, consider wind, waves and currents too, and enter gradually.

Motorboats, hired ones included, go slowly within a hundred and fifty metres of the shore, ten knots at most, and within fifty metres engines do not enter: in that band swimmers and rowing boats have priority. A boating licence is required above 30 kW (40.8 metric horsepower), and also at or below that power if the engine exceeds the displacement limit for its type. To operate a motorboat up to ten metres long without a licence, you must be at least sixteen. A first-timer asks the hire company where the shallows are and where the ferry passes, because the ferry always has right of way. Making a wash below the private villas is frowned upon, and in some stretches forbidden.

Drones: almost every villa and garden that can be visited bans them in its rules, and in built-up areas flying needs authorisation. Over open water, away from people and boats, the national ENAC rules apply; common sense says not to launch from a crowded pier.

ZTL means restricted traffic zone: the old centres of Como, Bellagio, Varenna and other villages are closed to cars without a permit, watched by cameras, with the hours written on the sign at the entrance. The satnav does not know this and takes you straight in; the fine arrives by post months later, abroad too, through the hire company. If your hotel is inside the zone, it is the hotel that registers your plate: ask before you arrive.

The lines on the ground say who may park: white free, blue paid at the meter or by app, yellow reserved for residents, disabled badge holders or loading. In the lake villages it is easier to leave the car in Como or where you sleep, and get around by boat. The shore roads, the Regina on the west and the Lariana on the east, are narrow and without pavements in many stretches: drive slowly and let the bus through.

Tickets: train tickets are bought online or at the station, and a paper one is validated before boarding; on the bus you pay with a ticket, or by card on board where that is offered; boat tickets are bought at the pier or online. In every case you board with a ticket; you do not buy from the inspector.

The coperto is a per-person item on the bill covering bread, table linen and service; it must be stated on the menu. At fountains, check for the drinking-water sign “acqua potabile” before drinking.

Enter churches with your shoulders covered and outside mass times.

Respect the rest hours set by local regulations. Carry some cash for markets and small businesses.

112 is the single emergency number, free from any phone, with operators in English too: it covers mountain rescue on a trail, a sudden illness, an accident on the water. 115 is the fire brigade, 118 still answers for ambulances in some areas, but 112 routes everything. The duty pharmacy, open at night and on Sundays, is named on the sign of every closed pharmacy.

The transport words confuse Italians too: the battello is the ordinary sailing that stops at every village; the aliscafo or servizio rapido makes fewer stops; the traghetto is the one that carries cars, and on the lake it only works the Bellagio–Varenna–Menaggio–Cadenabbia triangle; the pontile is the pier where you board; the lido is a beach with facilities, usually with a charge. On the trails the mulattiera is the old stepped mule track, and the crotto is the cellar dug into the rock that becomes a tavern in summer.