The Reggia di Caserta has signed a research agreement with the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for SonaRe, a scientific project comparing the Royal Staircase of Caserta with the staircase of the Royal Palace of Madrid.
The agreement was signed by the Reggia di Caserta, an institute of Italy's Ministry of Culture, and the Spanish university. The project looks at two monumental staircases together, examining their history, architecture and sound.
At the center of the study is the Scalone Reale in Caserta, the monumental interior staircase with marble panels, sculptures, niches, columns and a central landing. SonaRe places it alongside its counterpart in Madrid for direct comparison.
The comparison covers historical and stylistic links between the two staircases, along with their construction techniques and artistic elements. It also extends to their acoustic and spatial properties, the dimension that gives the project its title: the sound of the staircase as an architectural space.
For fieldwork, the project will use LIDAR laser scanning and high-precision photogrammetry. No results from these comparative surveys are available yet.
The research also has a public component. Planned knowledge-sharing and public dissemination will involve the Reggia di Caserta and Patrimonio Nacional in Madrid, with joint communication of the work to wider audiences.
SonaRe has the patronage of the Association of European Royal Residences (ARRE).
What the sources do not yet establish is the timetable for the surveys, the names of the investigators, the expected research outputs, or the details of the acoustic measurement protocol. It is also not stated whether the project will lead to recordings, a digital reconstruction, or a permanent installation for visitors. For now, SonaRe stands as a newly formalized collaboration: two royal staircases, studied together through shared research between Caserta and Madrid.
