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.