  ALICE at the LHC is the experiment dedicated to study the physics of
nucleus-nucleus collisions. The apparatus is well suited for the measurement of
heavy-quark hadron production, making use of the high spatial resolution
provided by the tracking detectors and the excellent particle identification,
which are distinctive of the ALICE apparatus.
  Results from proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 and 7 TeV, and from
Pb--Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV are presented. The measurements in
pp collisions provide an important test of perturbative QCD predictions. The
precise vertex reconstruction together with the electron identification, allows
the separation of the charm and the beauty components. Furthermore, the pp
results are essential as a reference for the measurements in heavy-ion
collisions. Nuclear modification factors were measured for D mesons, for
electrons and for muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays. The elliptic flow of
D mesons is also discussed. These measurements are important because they will
provide information on the Quark-Gluon Plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions,
via the energy loss of the heavy partons in the strongly interacting medium,
and hints on the medium thermalization.
