was built by the shipyard in
Livorno. Her
keel was
laid down on 1 August 1888. Shortages of funding slowed the completion of and her sister ships. Tight budgets forced the navy to reduce the pace of construction so that the funds could be used to keep the active fleet in service. As a result, her hull was not ready to be
launched until 23 April 1891, and
fitting-out work took another almost three years to complete. finally joined the fleet on 16 February 1894. After entering service, she was stationed in
Taranto along with the ironclads and , the protected cruisers and , the
torpedo cruisers , , and , and several other vessels. She remained there through 1894. On 1 February 1897, was assigned to the Cruiser Squadron of the main Italian fleet, along with her sister and the cruisers and . Later that year, and cruised off the eastern coast of South America. In 1902, was part of a squadron with the protected cruisers and in American waters. In September 1904, stopped in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to supervise the transfer of sailors who had been killed by a
yellow fever outbreak on her sister in 1896. The men, 134 in all, had been buried in various cemeteries, but were re-interred in a large mausoleum in
São Francisco Xavier. On 29 December, stopped in
Valparaiso, where she met the German cruiser and the United States' cruisers and and the
gunboat . In June 1905, represented Italy at the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in
Portland, Oregon. She was joined there by the United States' cruisers and . She visited
San Diego, California in August exchanging
salutes and visits with the commander of the coastal fortification outside the city. Two days after arriving, s captain, officers, and twenty crewmen went ashore and placed a wreath to commemorate the men who had been killed aboard the United States' gunboat
Bennington in a boiler explosion. ran aground outside
Kingston, Jamaica in July 1906, while en route from
Puerto Rico. The salvage ship assisted in pulling the ship free. By 1910, the had decided to dispose of the obsolescent cruiser. Rumors that year of a potential sale to the
Ecuadorian Navy prompted Peru to buy the old French cruiser , though Ecuador did not end up purchasing . Instead, in December 1910, the sold to the
Haitian Navy, but she did not arrive in
Port-de-Paix, Haiti, until 13 June 1911. After the sale, the ship was renamed
Consul Gostrück. The ship was rumored to be carrying
Cipriano Castro, the deposed president of Venezuela, though they later proved to be false. A German captain, Willy Meyer, was hired to take command of the ship upon her arrival in Haiti, but due to the lengthy delays, he quit. The cruiser sank shortly after entering service because her crew was not experienced in handling the ship.
Consul Gostrück was eventually raised and towed to
Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for disposal in 1913. ==Notes==