Our story
A house built for summer.
In 1911 a silk merchant from Como built a summer house where the lake bends. A century later we opened its shutters again.
Since 1911
Four dates, one house.
The same walls, four very different summers.
Since 1911
Four dates, one house.
The same walls, four very different summers.
1911
The summer house
Built for a silk merchant from Como: three floors, a boathouse and a cellar cut into the rock. He planted the cypress walk the same spring.
1968
Doors open
His granddaughter turned the villa into a twelve-room hotel. Guests arrived by boat, signed a leather register and stayed for a month.
2019
Stone by stone
A four-year restoration. We lifted and relaid the terrazzo by hand, rebuilt the boathouse on its original piles and turned the cisterns into a spa.
Today
Thirty-eight rooms
Suites in the villa, rooms in the old lemon house, two garden villas and the Residence above the boathouse. Still quiet enough to hear the boats first.
1911
1968
2019
Today
The summer house
Built for a silk merchant from Como: three floors, a boathouse and a cellar cut into the rock. He planted the cypress walk the same spring.
Doors open
His granddaughter turned the villa into a twelve-room hotel. Guests arrived by boat, signed a leather register and stayed for a month.
Stone by stone
A four-year restoration. We lifted and relaid the terrazzo by hand, rebuilt the boathouse on its original piles and turned the cisterns into a spa.
Thirty-eight rooms
Suites in the villa, rooms in the old lemon house, two garden villas and the Residence above the boathouse. Still quiet enough to hear the boats first.
1911
1968
2019
Today
The summer house
Built for a silk merchant from Como: three floors, a boathouse and a cellar cut into the rock. He planted the cypress walk the same spring.
Doors open
His granddaughter turned the villa into a twelve-room hotel. Guests arrived by boat, signed a leather register and stayed for a month.
Stone by stone
A four-year restoration. We lifted and relaid the terrazzo by hand, rebuilt the boathouse on its original piles and turned the cisterns into a spa.
Thirty-eight rooms
Suites in the villa, rooms in the old lemon house, two garden villas and the Residence above the boathouse. Still quiet enough to hear the boats first.
How we work
Three things we keep.
Quiet by design
No music in the corridors, no screens in the garden, no announcements. The loudest thing here should be the ferry horn.
Quiet by design
No music in the corridors, no screens in the garden, no announcements. The loudest thing here should be the ferry horn.
From close by
Fish from Lezzeno, rice from the Lomellina, linen woven in Como, stone from Moltrasio. Most of what you touch came from within a day’s drive.
From close by
Fish from Lezzeno, rice from the Lomellina, linen woven in Como, stone from Moltrasio. Most of what you touch came from within a day’s drive.
Unhurried service
We learn your name and how you take your coffee, then step back. Ask for anything; we will not ask twice.
Unhurried service
We learn your name and how you take your coffee, then step back. Ask for anything; we will not ask twice.
The people
Hosts, not staff.
Forty-two people keep the house running, most of them from the villages along this shore. Matteo cooks the way his grandmother did in Bellano. Sofia ran thermal baths in Merano before she came home. Luca has been our concierge since the doors reopened and still writes every ferry time by hand.
Sustainability
Lighter on the lake.
Small, practical changes, measured every season and reported in the journal.
Sustainability
Lighter on the lake.
Small, practical changes, measured every season and reported in the journal.
Spring water, in glass
We bottle our own spring water in glass. There is no plastic in the rooms.
Spring water, in glass
We bottle our own spring water in glass. There is no plastic in the rooms.
Solar on the boathouse
Panels on the boathouse roof heat the spa and the pool from April to October.
Solar on the boathouse
Panels on the boathouse roof heat the spa and the pool from April to October.
Garden to kitchen
A third of what La Darsena serves in summer grows in our own beds above the road.
Garden to kitchen
A third of what La Darsena serves in summer grows in our own beds above the road.
A quieter boat
Our 1962 boat now runs on an electric motor. Lake transfers from Como follow in 2027.
A quieter boat
Our 1962 boat now runs on an electric motor. Lake transfers from Como follow in 2027.
Recognition
Quiet Hotels of Europe
2025
Lakeside Hospitality Circle
2024
Slow Travel Review · Gold
2024
