Completed in 1861 the ship participated in the Second French intervention in Mexico the following year.

She was converted into a troopship in 1866 and was hulked in 1881, serving as a barracks ship until she was scrapped in 1900.

The conversion to steam power involved cutting Castiglione's frame in half amidships and building a new section to house the propulsion machinery and coal bunkers.

Details are lacking on her propulsion machinery, the only information available is that her two steam engines were rated at 800 nominal horsepower and produced 2,259 indicated horsepower (1,685 kW) which gave her a speed of 11.77 knots (21.80 km/h; 13.54 mph) during her sea trials.

[1] The ship's armament consisted of eighteen 30-pounder (164.7 mm (6.5 in)) smoothbore cannon and sixteen 223.3 mm (8.8 in) Paixhans guns on the lower gundeck and thirty-four 30-pounder cannon on the upper gundeck.