A decade after opening in the small lakeside town of Torno, Il Sereno has found an unusual way to mark its tenth birthday: a 2,152-square-foot suite built around a serious hi-fi system and more than 500 records. The Darsena Listening Suite, launched in summer 2025, is the largest room at the 40-suite hotel and may be the most audiophile-friendly place to sleep in Italy.
Owner Luis Contreras, a self-confessed record obsessive, modelled the space on Japan's cult jazz-kissa bars, where vinyl is treated almost like a religion. He spent a year assembling the analogue setup: Klipsch La Scala II speakers, McIntosh tube amplification, a Thorens turntable and a restored 1977 Revox reel-to-reel deck — the machine that started the whole project. The library leans on his personal collection, from Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and original Bowie pressings to classical box sets, with Charli XCX and Kendrick Lamar as newer arrivals. Guests can even request additions.
The design is classic Il Sereno, meaning it has little in common with the ornate villas elsewhere on the lake. Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola, who shaped the entire hotel on the site of a derelict stone boathouse, returned for the suite: soundproofed walls in custom jacquard fabric inspired by the lake's ripples and fishermen's nets, walnut panelling, low Molteni seating and mid-century Gio Ponti chairs. A stone table seats ten, and Michelin-starred dinners can be served with a curated soundtrack. When nobody's staying the night, the suite can be booked for private dinners and listening sessions.
The rest of the hotel keeps pace. Chef Raffaele Lenzi holds a Michelin star at Il Sereno Al Lago, with three anniversary tasting menus rolling out, plus Al Tramonto — five terrace tables for sunset dining — arriving in summer 2026. Down at the water, an 18-metre infinity pool sits suspended over the lake with an underwater sound system, and the spa's sauna and steam rooms occupy the old boathouse's stone arches, bookable privately.
Exploring is half the point here. Guests can captain their own Ernesto Riva Jetto boat with zero experience, cruise past Villa Balbianello and Villa Carlotta on a luxury water limousine, or take a seaplane over the villages and waterfalls. Torno itself is quiet and pretty, with Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio all within reach and the city of Como a 15-minute drive. Vintage Maserati, FIAT 500 and Vespa tours add another layer of Italian nostalgia — fitting, given the hotel's whole pitch.
For travellers who care as much about what they hear as what they see, this suite is a genuine one-off: design-hotel polish with a record collection attached. It also suits anyone seeking a contemporary alternative to Como's grand old dames — and it's fully shoppable, should you fall for the furniture before checkout.
