The Best Hotels and Resorts in Europe and the UK: The Gold List 2024

"When it launched a few years ago in Torno, Il Sereno, Lago di Como caused a sensation. It was the first hotel in the area of Lake Como to be designed by a world-renowned architect—and Patricia Urquiola, the Spanish starchitect and a longtime resident of Milan, did a fabulous job. The hotel blends into its surroundings thanks to the “light” building, with its many windows awash with sunlight reflected by the lake. The garden, with around 183 varieties of plants, creates a gorgeous floral landscape that syncs up with the environment. Even the Brazilian quartzite heated infinity pool and the ashwood deck become one with the lake in a continuous line: harmony. From inside the hotel you can often glimpse the waters of the Lario, the other name by which Lake Como is known, an iconic part of Italian culture and the backdrop of Alessandro Manzoni’s 19th-century novel The Betrothed, where star-crossed lovers Renzo and Lucia manage to finally reunite and get married. Il Sereno’s lobby is elegant, soft, and welcoming, filled with the best of Italian design—furniture by Cassina, Moroso, B&B Italia—as are the 40 rooms, all with a view, and the exquisite vertical garden by Patrick Blanc. The delicious and simple (albeit Michelin-starred) food is courtesy of Raffaele Lenzi and features local freshwater fish and vegetables, served alongside sensational cocktails (even the alcohol-free ones). As if so much contemporary beauty were not enough, there’s still the wooden motorboat, a beautiful Riva, ready to take you around the lake or to Villa Pliniana, a 16th-century palace with another 17 bedrooms—a perfect setting for listening to the music of the villa’s beautiful grand piano while gazing upon the waters of Lago di Como. From $815. —Maddalena Fossati" - CNT Editors