The design is an enlarged version of the Audace class, updated with diesel and gas turbine CODOG machinery and modern sensors.

This class is named after a famous naval diver who served in Italy's Royal Navy during World War II, Luigi Durand de la Penne.

He, together with other members of X MAS made the most successful human torpedo mission, damaging the British battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant in Alexandria, December 1941, with SLCs 'Maiale'.

Because the ships in the Italian Navy are seldom built from scratch (especially for economic reasons), it is worth considering the evolution of this project, starting with the first class of missile destroyers made in Italy.

The Charles F. Adams class had an ASROC launcher, dedicated to ASW tasks, to help counter the growing number of Soviet submarines.

They were built somewhat bigger, to accommodate the solution to one of the most serious weakness of the previous Impavido class, the lack of an ASW helicopter hangar.

Agusta had navalised the Bell 212 helicopter and two of these were accommodated in a hangar, practically framed with the Tartar launcher, in the same relatively small superstructure.

Towards the aft of the ship there was the Tartar launcher with the two Agusta helicopters able to make ASW and limited anti-ship tasks.

Despite the powerful six-gun armament, none of them was able to fire directly aft of the ship, leaving this quarter only to the Tartar missile system, a weapon not meant to provide close air defence (this will be rectified with the de la Penne class).

The ship's dimensions were again a bit cramped, accommodating all the equipment and the crew (380) on board a relatively small hull.

Its construction is made almost totally with steel; the structure is a continuous deck with a low, large stern, to accommodate the helicopter force.

The superstructure consists of two blocks, relatively low and wide, both with a high, antenna mast with a triangular cross-section for all the electronic.

The entire propulsion system is controlled remotely; no crew is needed inside the powerplant section in normal situations.

The aft superstructure is equally heavily armed, with a gun, 2 helicopters and 40 SM-1/2 missiles (the combined weight of the latter 24 tonnes, with over 1 T high-explosive), plus the ASW torpedo stores (several Mk 46 or A244 torpedoes), in less than 25 m. Also because of this, the crew complement, at 380, is larger than as in other modern ships: a large crew is absolutely required to control damage or fire.

All these weapons cover all the horizon, giving an air defence able to stop quite heavy attacks, especially from the front, because the majority of these are placed on the foredeck.

They can shoot 120 RPM, 6.3 kg (14 lb) shells with sophisticated fuses, and engage at 6 km (4 mi) even anti-ship missiles.

As for anti-ship weapons, the ship carries Otomat, missiles with very long range (180 km or more), with mid-course guidance by AB-212s, sea skimmer capability and a 210 kg (463 lb) warhead.

These two ships, together with the two old Audaces, were the bulk of Italian navy's air defence, especially before the AV-8 Harrier, armed with AMRAAM missiles, became fully operational.

These missile destroyers have performed well as command ships in several deployment even over Mediterranean sea, and the last of their missions was related to the Italian peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

At the time the best non-AEGIS air-defence ships, the Durand de la Penne class have an important role in Italian navy.

Now that the Audaces are decommissioned, the Durand de la Pennes will remain the only missile destroyers (and the only ship with area defence-missiles) for some time, until the new Horizon class become operative.

Minor changes are or will be made: the compatibility with one EH101 heavy helicopter or 2 NH90 (enhancing the helicopters capabilities, now still on AB-212s) equipped with new sensors, ASW torpedoes MU-90 and the Marte Mk 2 anti-ship missile, over the new ASW missiles MILAS, and quite obviously, continuous updates on the computers and electronic systems, that brings much improved performances even if externally there is almost no difference to notice.

Another important improvement will be the adoption of guided ammunition for the guns: Vulcano projectile for 127 mm (5 in), with an extended range of 70–100 km, meant as coastal bombing, is a quantum leap forward compared to the traditional artillery rounds (similar to a new models developed in USA), while DAVIDE (guided) or DART (sabot projectile) will further enhance the already very powerful anti-missile defence of these ships.