CUORE: a cryogenic underground observatory for rare events

The proposal for an array of 1000 cryogenic detectors of a mass between 0.5 and 1 kg each is presented. It would be operated underground to search for neutrinoless double beta decay, interaction of WIMPS and of solar axions and for rare events in nuclear physics. The first results of an array of 20 TeO2 detectors totaling a mass of almost 7 kg will be also reported.