The GERDA (GERmanium Detector Array) is an experiment for the search of neutrinoless double beta decay () in 76Ge, located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN (Italy). In the first phase of the experiment, a 90% confidence level (C.L.) sensitivity of on the decay half-life was achieved with a 21.6 kg⋅yr exposure and an unprecedented background index in the region of interest of 10−2 counts/(keV⋅kg⋅yr). No excess of signal events was found, and an experimental lower limit on the half-life of 2.1 ⋅ 1025 yr (90% C.L.) was established. Correspondingly, the limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass is , depending on the considered nuclear matrix element. The previous claim for evidence of a decay signal is strongly disfavored, and the field of research is open again.