Similar in performance to the US Navy's Charles F. Adams class, these ships were essentially improved Impetuoso-class vessels, with the aft gun-turret being replaced by a Tartar surface-to-air-missile launcher and associated radar.

The vessels were commissioned in the early 1960s and were roughly equal to the American Charles F. Adams-class destroyer.

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

This usually led to the construction of many Italian warships with a heavier short-range air defence armament than normal.

Reliability left a lot to be desired, while the lack of a totally automatic mode of fire proved a disadvantage.