The Garibaldis were slightly larger and about a knot faster than their predecessors, but the primary improvement was the addition of two gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.

These remedied a major weakness of the older ships in that their primary armament, being on the broadside, could not engage targets that were directly in front or behind.

Cristobal Colon was fitted with 10-inch guns which the Spanish admiralty claimed were defective and which were removed before it was committed to combat.

Two of the Italian ships ordered in 1902 were sold to the Argentine Navy before completion as the Mitre and Roca; they were renamed as the Rivadavia and the Mariano Moreno.

The Argentines in turn sold them to the Imperial Japanese Navy before final completion in 1904, and they were renamed the Kasuga and Nisshin.