Lake Maggiore in the context of "Waterways"

A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is necessary between maritime shipping routes and waterways used by inland water craft. Maritime shipping routes cross oceans and seas, and some lakes, where navigability is assumed, and no engineering is required, except to provide the draft for deep-sea shipping to approach seaports (channels), or to provide a short cut across an isthmus; this is the function of ship canals. Dredged channels in the sea are not usually described as waterways. There is an exception to this initial distinction, essentially for legal purposes, see under international waters.

Where seaports are located inland, they are approached through a waterway that could be termed "inland" but in practice is generally referred to as a "maritime waterway" (examples Seine Maritime, Loire Maritime, Seeschiffahrtsstraße Elbe). The term "inland waterway" refers to navigable rivers and canals designed to be used by inland waterway craft only, implicitly of much smaller dimensions than seagoing ships.

The river Ticino (/tɪˈtʃiːnoʊ/ tih-CHEE-noh, Italian: [tiˈtʃiːno]; Lombard: Tesin; French and German: Tessin; Latin: Ticīnus) is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.

It is one of the four major rivers taking their source in the Gotthard region, along with the Rhône, Reuss and Rhine.The river rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland at the frontier between the cantons of Valais and Ticino right below the Nufenen Pass, is fed by the glaciers of the Alps and later flows through Lake Maggiore, which traverses the border to Italy. The Ticino joins the Po a few kilometres downstream (along the Ticino) from Pavia. It is about 248 kilometres (154 mi) long. The stretch of river between Lake Maggiore and the confluence in the Po is included in the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino, a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

The Italian Lakes (Italian: Grandi laghi prealpini, lit. "great pre-alpine lakes") are a group of large lakes lying on the south side of the Alps, in the basin of the river Po and the Mediterranean Sea. As their name suggests, they are essentially located in northern Italy; however, they are also partly located in southern Switzerland. They are all glacial lakes that formed after the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age. The group is composed of (from west to east): Lake Orta, Lake Maggiore, Lake Varese, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro and Lake Garda. The three largest are all well over 100 km; they are: Lake Garda (largest in Italy), Lake Maggiore (largest in southern Switzerland) and Lake Como (deepest in Italy).

The lakes are located in the Italian regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, and in the Swiss canton of Ticino. They are all located at least partly in Italy, while two of them (Maggiore and Lugano) are partly in Switzerland.

Bergamo (/ˈbɜːrɡəmoʊ/ BUR-gə-moh, Italian: [ˈbɛrɡamo] ; Bergamasque: Bèrghem [ˈbɛrɡɛm] ) is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Milan, and about 30 km (19 mi) from the alpine lakes Como and Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Garda and Maggiore. The Bergamo Alps (Alpi Orobie) begin immediately north of the city.

With a population of 120,580 as of 2025, Bergamo is the fourth-largest city in Lombardy. Bergamo is the seat of the province of Bergamo, which counts more than 1,115,037 residents as of 2025. The metropolitan area of Bergamo extends beyond the administrative city limits, spanning over a densely urbanized area with slightly fewer than 500,000 inhabitants. The Bergamo metropolitan area is itself part of the broader Milan metropolitan area, home to more than eight million people.

The Sopraceneri ('Above the Ceneri'; Ticinese: Surascender) is the part of the Swiss canton of Ticino that lies to the north of the Monte Ceneri Pass through the Lugano Prealps. It includes the whole of the valley of the Ticino river and its side valleys, the Swiss shore of Lake Maggiore, the cities of Bellinzona and Locarno, as well as towns including Biasca and Riviera.

The Sopraceneri is not a half-canton with formally defined boundaries, but roughly maps to the districts of Bellinzona, Blenio, Leventina, Locarno, Riviera and Vallemaggia. The remainder of the canton is described as the Sottoceneri ('Under the Ceneri'), and includes the towns of Lugano, Mendrisio and Chiasso.

The Parco Naturale Lombardo Della Valle Del Ticino is a Nature reserve established on 9 January 1974. It was the first Italian regional park to be established and the first European river park. The park is located along the banks of the river Ticino, in Lombardy, in the provinces of Milan, Pavia and Varese, in an area of 91,410 hectares (2,2588 acres) between Lake Maggiore and the Po. The park borders the Parco naturale della Valle del Ticino, located on the other side of the river in Piedmont, created in 1978. In 2022 the two Parks were included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Lepontic is an ancient Alpine Celtic language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul (now Northern Italy) between 550 and 100 BC. Lepontic is attested in inscriptions found in an area centered on Lugano, Switzerland, and including the Lake Como and Lake Maggiore areas of Italy. Being a Celtic language, its name could derive from Proto-Celtic *leikʷontio- (which also was the basis of Lepontina, which became the modern (Val) Leventina).

While some recent scholarship (e.g. Eska 1998) has tended to consider Lepontic simply as an early outlying form of Gaulish and closely akin to other, later attestations of Gaulish in Italy (Cisalpine Gaulish), some scholars (notably Lejeune 1971) continue to view it as a distinct Continental Celtic language. In this latter view, the earlier inscriptions found within a 50 km radius of Lugano are considered Lepontic, while the later ones, to the immediate south of this area, are considered Cisalpine Gaulish.

Lake Como, also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 km (56 sq mi), making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over 400 metres (1,300 ft) deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. Its characteristic "Y" shape resulted from the movement of the ancient Adda glacier, which was diverted by the mountainous terrain and carved the three branches.

Located at the foot of the Alps, Lake Como has been a popular retreat for aristocracy and the wealthy since Roman times, and a major tourist attraction with many artistic and cultural gems. The homonymous city was named Novum Comum by consul Julius Caesar in 59 BC. Its shores are dotted with numerous villas and palaces, such as Villa Olmo, Villa Serbelloni, and Villa Carlotta, known for their historic architecture and elaborate gardens. The mild, humid climate, influenced by the lake, supports a diverse range of subtropical plants as well as traditional Mediterranean crops like olives. The surrounding mountains host typical Alpine flora and fauna. A significant religious site is the Sacro Monte di Ossuccio, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.