Il Sereno Lago di Como

While the belle époque grandes dames line the western shore of Lake Como in their yellow and white magnificence, Il Sereno sits quietly on the eastern shore at Torno and does something entirely different. It is contemporary, minimal, and completely certain of itself. In a lake full of hotels trying to be the most beautiful room in history, Il Sereno decided to be the most beautiful room in the present. It works.

The hotel opened in 2016, designed entirely by Patricia Urquiola — one of Italy's great design minds — and the coherence of the vision is total. Every surface, every material, every piece of furniture has been considered. The walnut, the travertine, the leather, the linen — nothing clashes because nothing was left to chance. It feels less like a hotel and more like someone's extraordinarily well-appointed house on the lake, if that someone happened to have impeccable taste and an unlimited budget.

The Rooms

Every room and suite has floor-to-ceiling windows with direct lake views — this was non-negotiable in the design and it shows. Furnishings are by Cassina, Moroso, and B&B Italia — the canon of Italian design. The Corner Suite has windows on two sides and a terrace that extends over the water. Breakfast delivered to that terrace on a Como morning, with the lake still and the mountains catching the first light, is one of those experiences that recalibrates what you think a hotel morning should feel like.

Food & Drink

The Michelin-starred restaurant Sereno Al Lago sits tucked below the hotel at water level — almost cave-like, intimate, with the lake just outside. Executive chef Raffaele Lenzi's menu is built around vegetables and creative reinterpretations of northern Italian tradition. The food is precise and seasonal. The wine list covers the northern Italian producers with the seriousness they deserve. For something more casual, the bar terrace serves aperitivo with the kind of lake view that makes the Negroni taste better than it has any right to.

The Experience

Il Sereno launched a Listening Suite in 2025 — a soundproofed 200-square-metre space with rare 1940s audio equipment, bespoke walnut furnishings, and a curated vinyl collection, conceived under Urquiola's artistic direction. It can serve as overnight accommodation or a private dining venue. The hotel's vehicle collection — a Vespa APE, Fiat 500, Fiat Topolino, and three Maseratis — is available for vintage car tours through the lakeside villages. Wooden motorboats from the historic Ernesto Riva boatbuilder are available for self-drive or skippered excursions on the lake.

Worth Knowing

Il Sereno has very few rooms — which means the service is genuinely personal in a way that larger Como hotels cannot match. It also means it books out early for summer. The eastern shore location puts you slightly further from Bellagio and the main ferry routes — the hotel's boats solve this, but it is worth knowing. If the Grand Hotel Tremezzo is Como's grande dame, Il Sereno is its most interesting contemporary rival. They are not the same hotel and they are not trying to be.

"Lake Como has been inspiring writers, painters, and emperors for two thousand years. Il Sereno is the first hotel that feels like it was designed for the next two thousand."