She was laid down in the royal shipyard at Castellammare di Stabia on 1 April 1857 and launched in January 1860, entering service in the Real Marina of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies on 10 July 1860, under the name Borbone. She was reclassified as a corvette in 1877 and the following year her boilers were replaced. She made a second circumnavigation between 1879 and 1882, defending Italian communities in Latin America and aiding the Italian and Austrian colonies at Suez by blockading the Suez Canal - Paolo Thaon di Revel was on board during this voyage.