The LILIA project: ion beams for hadrontheraphy

The LILIA (Laser Induced Light Ions Acceleration) experiment is now running at the SPARCLAB facility of the Frascati INFN laboratories. The aim of LILIA is to study, design and verify a scheme which foresees the production, the characterization and the transport of a proton beam toward a stage of post acceleration (high frequency compact linac). A description of the experimental set up is given in this paper together with the first evidence of proton acceleration with the laser FLAME.