  The Pauli Exclusion Principle is a basic principle of Quantum Mechanics, and
its validity has never been seriously challenged. However, given its
fundamental standing, it is very important to check it as thoroughly as
possible. Here we describe the VIP (VIolation of the Pauli exclusion principle)
experiment, an improved version of the Ramberg and Snow experiment (E. Ramberg
and G. Snow, {\it Phys. Lett. B} {\bf 238}, 438 (1990)); VIP has just completed
the installation at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, and aims to test the
Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to
$\beta^2/2 \approx 10^{-30} - 10^{-31}$. We report preliminary experimental
results and briefly discuss some of the implications of a possible violation.
