A very important opening in the year 2016, standing out for the overall quality of its design and the services it offers, and above all its ability to interpret its exceptional location on the shore of Lake Como. Hotel Il Sereno Lago di Como, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is a luxury resort perched above the banks of Lake Como in Lombardy, toward which it seems to extend with its terraces and open-air spaces, encompassing the amazing natural landscape in its view. After five years of work, the hotel now stands on the site of the former Villa Flora hotel, of which only the wall on the lake side remains.
The presence of the mountains and the lake allow the building to fit harmoniously into a unique landscape and offer hotel guests an enchanting view underlining its natural beauty. The location is made even more magical when guests arrive at the hotel by boat, on one of the vessels in the little fleet created by Ernesto Riva shipyards exclusively for the hotel.
A relationship of symbiosis with nature, already experienced in the twin building, Le Sereno St. Barth, made visible by the building’s structural and visual permeability, the outdoor areas perfectly integrated into the lay of the land, the materials used, the delicate refined colours and the technological solutions employed. The hotel is contained in a compact volume, given horizontal rhythm by the patios, interrupted only by wooden sunbreaks and by a vertical garden created by Patrick Blanc, the Miroir Vert du Lac, with almost 2.000 plants reflecting the colours of the lake. The building seems to emerge naturally out of the rock on which it perches.
The surrounding environment naturally had an impact on the choice of materials: wood and pietra moltrasina, a local stone found in the Lake Como area, are the key materials used, along with copper and fabrics, in a true oasis of relaxation offering every possible comfort. The architectural systems offering shelter from the sun are designed to be an integral part of the building, not something added as an afterthought, in a prestigious modern style featuring Resstende sunscreens. The patios jutting out over the lake are sheltered and screened with horizontal roller systems designed with great technical care and attention to detail.
The combinations of different materials, sophisticated details and natural elegance of Urquiola’s design juxtaposing different weaves and textures may be perceived both inside and outside the building, and find their utmost expression in its refined, elegant interiors. Prestigious walnut wood is the key material in the interiors, in an explicit reference to the planking used on the boats that ply the waters of Lake Como, both in the woodwork and partitions in the hotel’s common areas and in the custom-designed furniture in the hotel rooms. The same material forms the big staircase in the middle of the hall, made by Fontanot, entirely custom-made and incorporated into a diaphragm of copper pipes. The black walnut staircase perfect matches the furnishings, with an overhanging structure with a light yet solid image for a touch of excellence and quality adding dynamism to the lobby as a whole.
The contemporary taste of the furniture in the common areas is underlined by the warmth of natural materials such as stone and marble, by the excellence of the surfaces, by the refined colours, and by the natural light that filters in copiously through the big windows. Excellent materials and sophisticated details also appear in the hotel’s thirty large rooms, with a kitchen corner, in which the furnishings and surfaces help underline the architecture. The bathrooms, which have the same simple yet cosy atmosphere as the other spaces in the hotel, feature Lariana, the bathtub Urquiola designed for Agape, made of Cristalplant®: an architectural object, a form that is a synthesis of the classical and the contemporary, a volume of limited size which nonetheless offers the utmost comfort and relaxation.
Hotel Il Sereno Lago di Como has entrusted Michelin starred chef Andrea Berton with providing F&B services. International publications such as The New York Times have called it one of the world’s best 25 hotels to visit in 2016, adding to the attractions of a location that is already famous, especially in North America.