Northern Italy and Ticino Switzerland in June/July

Hello forum friends! Emerging from lurkerdom in search of recent thoughts about northern Italy. Heading there with our family of 3 in late June/early July. Planned stops include:

Venice

Lake District of Italy and Switzerland: Lakes Como, Lugano, and Maggiore (struggling to nail down exactly where to stay for these days)

Liguria: Italian Riviera, mainly Cinque Terre and Camogli

Milan

Any and all thoughts and suggestions are welcome! It's our first time in Italy, none of us speak Italian, we are not renting a car (trains only), and we don't eat beef or pork, should that color your suggestions.

Thank you all!

Laura

[Robin Garr]

Laura, I used to travel in Northern Italy a lot, but that was in the '00s, so I'm afraid any specific advice would be mighty stale. I can tell you that I love the place, though, from Trieste and Verona right through the Lake district and Milan to Piemonte and Liguria, and I hope you do, too.

I picked up a little tourist Italian, but have never been fluent, and I find that while universal English isn't guaranteed, the Italians will find a way to communicate, and just a little bit of "Buon Giorno" and "Grazie" on your part will make it even better. I'm also pretty sure you'll never find a bad meal or glass of wine.

I hope you get more input here, and since this forum doesn't get a lot of traffic, please feel free to repost in the main Louisville Restaurants forum as well. We're not sticklers about topic rules.