  One of the most energetic events in the Universe are core-collapse Supernovae
(SNe), where almost all the star's binding energy is released as neutrinos.
These particles are direct probes of the processes occurring in the stellar
core and provide unique insights into the gravitational collapse. RES-NOVA will
revolutionize how we detect neutrinos from astrophysical sources, by deploying
the first ton-scale array of cryogenic detectors made from archaeological lead.
Pb offers the highest neutrino interaction cross-section via coherent elastic
neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS). Such process will enable RES-NOVA to
be equally sensitive to all neutrino flavors. For the first time, we propose to
use archaeological Pb as sensitive target material in order to achieve an
ultra-low background level in the region of interest (\textit{O}(1keV)). All
these features make possible the deployment of the first cm-scale neutrino
telescope for the investigation of astrophysical sources. In this contribution,
we will characterize the radiopurity level and the performance of a small-scale
proof-of-principle detector of RES-NOVA, consisting in a PbWO$_4$ crystal made
from archaeological-Pb operated as cryogenic detector.
