It was formed in 1943 and named to commemorate the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete", which had distinguished itself during the Western Desert campaign and was destroyed during the Second Battle of El Alamein.

The division remained in the Emilia region until it moved to Rome in August 1943 in the wake of the fall of the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini on 26 July 1943.

The division was assigned to the Motorized-Armored Army Corps and tasked with defense of the northern approaches to Rome on both sides of Lake Bracciano in the towns of Monterosi and Manziana.

On 8 September 1943, when the Armistice of Cassibile was announced, the division's strength was 8,500 men, with 176 working tanks and armored vehicles, about 70 cannons and 92 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

The next day, on 11 September 1943, the division's commander General Cadorna went into hiding and joined the resistance in Rome, the Clandestine Military Front of Colonel Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.