05 Aug 2025
This has nothing to do with the boatcruise.
On our second day in Como, I went into the lake for a swim. I immidiately heard a police whistle. Two italian police officers ordered me out of the water. One of the officers were smiling, like "he he we caught a dumb tourist". One of the very rude officers showed me a tiny sign, that said swimming in the lake was forbidden. A sign that is very easy to miss. They told me I would get a 50 euro fine, instead of just giving me a warning. There were 4 or 5 officers and armed soildiers. The whole setup was ridicoulus. The officers demanded in rteur bad english to see my papers. When I told them, my passport was at my hotel, they ordered my friend to go back to the hotel anbd hget my passport, while I stayed. Then I guess they lost patience and told me to just fill out a form. I offered to pay in cash on the spot. But they wouldnt accept cash as it would be corruption. Really?? What would you call this, rude italian police?? After an office used google translate to translater corrupzione, they just left. I went to a nearby supermarket to pay the fine. The lake shore by Como is filthy. And they dont even bother to clean it up. When we left two days later, we recognized oner of the officers, writing a ticket to some other tourists, while having their car towed away. We agreed, that we better leave in a hurry, before they arrest us for breathing and keep all tourists from leaving Como. They really must hate tourists in Como, since the police spend all their time giving fines to tourists.
So stay out of the lake, if youre in Como. If you wanna go swimming in the lake elsewhere, do it from Bellagio. No harrassing police officers and its legal there.