Il Sereno is helping travelers tune into luxury in a fresh way.
The elegant, all-suite hotel, which opened on Lake Como in 2016, has created a new hi-fi sanctuary for music lovers. The Darsena Listening Suite combines high-tech audio gear with high-end aesthetics and high-quality food. It is the first hotel room to be designed entirely around the act of listening, according to the five-star Il Sereno.
The nearly 2,200-square-foot lakefront suite is the brainchild of hotel founder and avid audiophile Luis Contreras. He fell in love with a vintage Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape deck during a dinner in 2021, then decided to create a space where guests could press pause on their busy lives and relax by immersing themselves in music.
The suite is decked out with high-end audio gear.
Il Sereno
Inspired by Tokyo’s jazz kissa—listening cafes that spotlight jazz and vinyl—the suite allows guests to blast tunes in stylish fashion. Contreras wanted to incorporate an old-school rig, but the delicacy, complexity, and unpredictability of vintage speakers and turntables meant they weren’t conducive to daily hotel use. He instead opted for modern reissues of the classics, ensuring premium sound and in-suite longevity. The main audio system comprises Klipsch La Scala II speakers, a glowing McIntosh MC275 amplifier, a McIntosh C22 Preamp, a Thorens 1601 turntable with Sumiko Amethyst cartridge, and, of course, the restored Revox deck that started it all.
Contreras has also filled the suite with more than 500 LPs from his own collection. You can expect everything from Deutsche Grammophon box sets to first press Bowie. Guests can also flag their personal favourites, and the hotel will add them to the library. Contreras’s son has already added his top picks to the permanent archive.
Guests will be served Michelin-starred cuisine in the suite.
Il Sereno
Brought to life by designer Patricia Urquiola, the stylish interior is also focused on sound. A 50-foot wall of custom jacquard fabric, for example, enhances the acoustics and creates a striking focal point. The suite is adorned with Molteni sofas, Gio Ponti Leggera chairs, and a bespoke stone dining table around which guests can gather and listen to vinyl. It is also equipped with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a private deck with direct lake access, meaning nature is literally on your doorstep.
To top it off, Chef Raffaele Lenzi brings his Michelin-starred menu into the suite. Each dish can be served with curated music: the lapsang-infused artichoke may be enjoyed with a side of jazz, or the Risotto alla Pescatora could be devoured with a Baroque concerto. After dinner, guests can enjoy a well-chosen Italian wine while soaking in the water views and listening to yet more tunes.
“A primary objective in designing the space was not simply to create a listening suite, but a listening suite in which dining is central,” Contreras said in a statement.
Rates start from $6,300 per night. You can book on the Il Sereno website.
Click here to see all the photos of the Darsena Listening Suite.
Il Sereno
