  FLARES (Flexible Scintillation Light Apparatus for Rare Events Searches) is
an innovative project in the field of rare events searches, such as the search
for the neutrinoless double beta decay. It aims at demonstrating the high
potential of a technique that combines scintillating crystals with arrays of
high performance silicon drift detectors (SDD), operated at about 120K, to
reach a 2% level energy resolution in the region of interest ($\sim$ 3 MeV).
The proposed technique will combine in a single device all the demanding
features needed by an ideal experiment looking for rare events. The
characterization of the light emission non-proportionality of different
scintillation crystals as well as a first test of a CdWO$_{4}$ crystal coupled
to an array of SDD are presented and discussed.
