Il Sereno’s new Listening Suite is what phonophiles’ dreams are made of

Set on Lake Como’s eastern shore, in the quaint town of Torno, Il Sereno is an architectural marvel. Built on top of a former stone boathouse – or darsena – it marries the site’s history with a contemporary, modernist-inspired structure in a palette of colours and materials reflecting its lakeside context.

Since Il Sereno opened in 2016, the 40-suite hotel has drawn guests keen to drink in the views of the southern Italian Alps and glassy water. However, opening for the 2025 summer season, the new Darsena Listening Suite offers a different sensory experience, where sound and design converge.

Il Sereno’s new Listening Suite: modernist interiors meet high fidelity

Much like the rest of the hotel (including the architecture, interiors, uniforms and even a fleet of boats), the new suite was the collaborative work between Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, and hotel founders Luis and Angelica Contreras. They have worked with the designer consistently (unveiling an Urquiola-designed penthouse in 2021, and swim-up suite in 2023) since the property’s opening. This new chapter holds a special place for Luis Contreras.

After travelling around Japan, he was inspired by the country’s dedicated spaces where vinyl records are enjoyed with quiet reverence, known as listening rooms or bars. Taking this concept and design codes, Contreras applied them to the new suite. Soundproof walls with textured detailing, coupled with acoustic fabrics, ensure smooth, high fidelity. Walnut furnishings and speakers nod to the rest of the hotel, with its midcentury modern-inspired flair.

At the core of the suite is the sound system. An audiophile’s dream set-up, it includes a McIntosh vacuum tube amplifier, a refurbished Revox B77 reel-to-reel player and speakers made from the same wood used throughout the hotel (noce canaletto), weighing over 200kg. Contreras provided his personal collection of over 500 records. Genres vary from pop and classic rock to bossa nova and jazz, although it is evident that Contreras is a big Genesis fan. ‘Guests can request records prior to staying,’ notes Claudio Cadeddu, Sereno Hotels’ chief commercial officer. ‘We want to create a Babylon library of music.’

Large sliding doors divide the suite's various areas, allowing you to create an intimate space, an invitation to lounge on the floor surrounded by a sea of records as you queue up tracks.

‘Going down the rabbit hole of high-end hi-fi was a lot of fun,’ says Contreras. ‘When designing the equipment, I first went down a path to build an artisanal system, and got to meet some incredibly talented people who could do “old-fashioned” hi-fi systems using (mostly) old tech. It was lots of fun, beautiful, and eye-wateringly expensive. I eventually decided against it because the systems are just too delicate and difficult to use to leave them inside a hotel room. Then, for a while, I looked into getting a vintage system, spending hours on the internet looking at listings of old equipment. High-end hi-fi, in a sense, is not that different from old cars. The good ones don’t lose value, and owners usually take good care of them. Again, I also decided against it.’

He continues: ‘In the end, I went with mostly new equipment reissued using classic old designs – the original design of Klipsch speakers is from 1938. The exception is for the reel-to-reel tape player, which is a Revox machine that’s over 50 years old, beautiful, but less user-friendly and more delicate. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s a stunning machine, the reel-to-reel is what inspired everything else and it was a must for me to have.’

Almost a decade after its opening, Il Sereno feels like a hotel that has successfully captured the essence of Lake Como – no easy feat. The surrounding nature is the protagonist here and has romance at its core. ‘When we started, when we had only a beautiful site and a blank piece of paper, before we had hired any designers, we came up with a guiding principle: no matter how beautiful and curated the spaces we create indoors, the real star is what is outdoors,’ says Contreras. ‘The goal was to integrate the interiors with the lake landscape, and to have transparency in the building so that no matter where you are in the hotel, you are in contact with nature.’

The structure comprises a series of loggias topped by a flat garden roof, inspired by Italian architect Giuseppe Terragni’s 1930s Casa del Fascio in nearby Como. Upon arrival at the hotel, guests are welcomed through a 20ft-tall entrance door and gardens planted by vertical garden specialist Patrick Blanc.

There’s a Michelin-starred restaurant, Il Sereno al Lago, headed by chef Raffaele Lenzi, where the lake-level views are framed by the original boathouse arches and the menu prioritises Italian spirit and simplicity in ingredients. The hotel has its own shoreline, including a private beach, and the 18m infinity pool is equipped with an underwater sound system.

When Il Sereno first opened in 2016, Urquiola told Wallpaper* she wanted the interiors to have a subtle connection to the surroundings. ‘What guests see from the view – the water, stone, greenery or boats – is reflected in the interiors of the hotel. I have tried to integrate the identity of the place in a contemporary way. The lake is all about integrity.’

As for the latest addition, the new Listening Suite, Contreras says, ‘I don’t want to mislead by giving the impression this is a “perfect listening room”, because it isn’t. We had to make compromises to have it all. This is a beautiful 2,000 sq ft hotel suite with private dining facilities and direct access to the lake that has a listening room. Sound experts may cringe when they see the speaker is near a glass wall, that is not optimal for sound. But I don’t think it’s hard to argue that to see the lake and feel that one can “go fishing from the room” as one listens to music is a good compromise!’

Il Sereno is located at Via Torrazza, 10, 22020 Torno CO, Italy