The vegetation includes vines and fig, pomegranate, olive, chestnut, and oleander trees. Chestnut and conifer woods and large areas of pastureland cover the mountain slopes. You can also find exotic species such as cypresses and bay trees, citrus trees, palm trees, azaleas, cacti and camellias which are typical of a Mediterranean climate.
There is fishing for trout, eel, and agoni, a type of herring, but pollution has much reduced the fish population. It was reported in 2007 that Lake Como was too polluted to swim in, with colony-forming units of bacteria at 68 times the safe limit for bathing. This pollution presents a risk of skin infections, dermatitis and even salmonella to bathers, but measures have been put in place to clean-up the lake. Summer 2008 my family and I all swam in the lake without any worries (as did many of the locals), we decided that if it was good enough for the locals to swim in, then it was good enough for us and a great time was had by all! Rice, cereals, forage, flax, and sugar beets are the main crops of Lombardy, and the mulberry is extensively cultivated for use in sericulture.
