FOR THIS WEEK’S [PLACES], it’s away and off to La Socelière, a 17th-century chateau in the Loire Valley. Resting on nearly 20 acres of gardens, forest, and pasture, it is a wonderland of 1940s Italian rococo sofas and armchairs upholstered in purple velvet; a place where 18th-century French Savonnerie wool rugs and crystal chandeliers intermingle with a mix of Italian and French antiques, and light fills the place . . .
Giuseppe Laviani, now 82, and his wife, Giacomina, 77 purchased the 9,000 square foot castle in 1999 for about $500,000, paying another $500,000 to restore it, bringing in carpenters, electricians and painters from Italy. The family’s wish was to “give dignity back to the house without overdoing it”.
[IMAGES : photography by Andrea Wyner for The New York Times]