Italian ticket validating machines

Whenever your traveling on the trains or buses across Italy, be sure to validate your ticket. At the entrance to every platform there is a yellow machine (or orange on the bus) that you slot your ticket into, which validates your journey with the time and date. If you accidentally forget to stamp your ticket or have ran to jump on the train, make sure you find the conductor straight away or you will be in for a hefty on the spot fine.

Buying train tickets can be a job in itself in Italy, so I would recommend buying your ticket before your journey, or arrive at the station early. Unfortunately getting onto the train without your ticket will just result in a fine, which can be a little harsh if the machines are not working or only one person is behind the counter?

A good tip for as a second choice is newsagents in train stations often sell tickets for buses and trains from behind the counter and will give you tickets based on the distance you're traveling. They only accept cash.

The Lakes. Como, Menaggio, Bellagio

Some of the most popular places for tourists to visit are the great lakes of Italy. Amazing Alpine backdrops, beautiful buildings, great weather and wonderful food.
Como seems to be the main lake for International visitors to be attracted too, with inevitably Como Town at the forefront of everyone's visit to the area. Como benefits from being one of the easiest destinations outside of Milan to travel too, and other destinations around the lake can be reached from there on.
The Town of Como has trains and boats onto places like Bellagio and Menaggio, and sits less than three miles from the border of Switzerland. Como Town itself is probably not the most stunning of places to visit in Italy, but it does have some of the usual ancient Italian buildings next to the lake and around the Duomo area, that are very nice to take some pictures of, but generally it's all a bit too touristy for me.
Personally the best thing about Como Town is getting on the boats and going up the lake. From there on the scenery is stunning, some the houses along the lakeside are amazing and it leads you to likes of Menaggio and Bellagio, both of which are worth a visit and sit on different parts of the lake.
If you feel brave enough to drive in Italy, this would be the place to do it, as the lakeside drive upto Menaggio is totally stunning.

Lake Como

Trains in Italy. Trenitalia

All of Italy benefits from a variation of trains at all levels of prices and speeds.
The main opperator is Trenitalia, made up of 'Suberban' and 'Regionale' rail services, and both part of the National rail service. Generally these are cheaper but slower than most of the other opperators and services. After these you have a whole host of other options, from the most commonly know which is the Eurostar, Le-Nord (French rail network) TGV (French rail network) which also includes the 'Couchette' overnight train to France and finally the Frecce Rossa and Frecce Bianca which are the Italian equivalents of the Japanese Bullet train. (Worth a go!)

Frecce Bianca