The cryogenic underground observatory for rare events (CUORE) is a cryogenic experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of ¹³⁰Te. The detector consists of an array of 988 TeO₂ crystals arranged in a compact cylindrical structure of 19 towers. We report the CUORE initial operations and optimization campaigns. We then present the CUORE results on 0νββ and 2νββ decay of ¹³⁰Te obtained from the analysis of the physics data acquired in 2017.