Il Sereno Lago di Como ranks #14 on our 2026 list of the best honeymoon hotels in the world. The case below explains why, the hotel itself, the standard it operates at, what it does specifically for couples on a milestone trip, and the alternatives we tested it against.
“Thirty rooms in Torno, designed by Patricia Urquiola, opened 2016. The most architecturally interesting hotel on the lake. Infinity pool, Berton restaurant.”
The hotel itself
Thirty rooms by Patricia Urquiola on the eastern shore. The most architecturally distinctive contemporary luxury hotel in Italy, and the answer for travellers who don't want a historic villa.
"30 rooms by Patricia Urquiola on the eastern shore. The contemporary Lake Como hotel, for travellers who don't want a historic villa."
Il Sereno Lago di Como opened in 2016 in Torno on the eastern shore of Lake Como, designed entirely by Spanish-Italian architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, the same Patricia Urquiola behind some of the more notable hotel and residential design work in Italy of the past two decades. The thirty rooms and suites are distributed across a single contemporary five-storey building that the architectural team designed specifically as the antidote to Lake Como's historic-villa hotel category, the most aggressively contemporary luxury hotel in northern Italy.
Why it works for a honeymoon
Alpine honeymoons are not the obvious choice and that is the point. The couple who picks a mountain hotel is choosing a different argument: fireplaces, fur-blanket sleigh rides, après-ski dinners that go later than they should. The hotel succeeds or fails on its dining and its bar, the snow does most of the rest.
This is one of the hotels that does not need a brand to argue for itself. The owners, sometimes a family, sometimes a single founder, sometimes a regional operator with one or two properties, built this place to a standard the larger groups have tried and failed to replicate. The case below is the honeymoon-specific argument.
The thirty rooms are split between Junior Suites (with lake-view terraces), Lake View Suites, and the Penthouse Suite (the largest, occupying the top floor). Every room has a private terrace; every terrace has a custom-designed Urquiola sun lounger; every bathroom uses bespoke Italian stone and glass. The interiors are warm Italian woods, custom-designed Urquiola furniture, and a colour palette tuned to the lake's specific blue-green light. The result is a property that looks unlike any other Lake Como hotel and that the architectural press has covered extensively.
The defining feature is the infinity pool, a black-bottomed forty-metre pool extending directly toward the lake, with no visible separation between pool surface and lake surface. The pool deck is the property's social heart; the boat dock on the lake is the access point for the resort's vintage-style classic launch. The spa is small but Urquiola-designed and features bespoke Italian-spa products. The fitness centre is well-equipped.
Where it ranks against rivals
For a 2026 honeymoon at this level, the closest comparisons on our list are Le Sirenuse in Positano (#5), Aman Venice (#6), and Grace Hotel Santorini (#15). Il Sereno takes #14 as the one contemporary-design choice among them; couples who want heritage-palace formality on the same lake should look at Passalacqua instead. The full list below ranks all twenty.
Practical: getting in
Address: Via Torrazza, 10, 22020 Torno CO, Italy. Honeymoon-suited categories book six to nine months ahead in shoulder season, twelve months ahead in peak. The full review at the hotel page has current rates, room categories worth paying up for, and the dining and spa programmes worth booking pre-arrival. Use our honeymoon occasion page for the broader context.