Magenta was a screw corvette, originally of the Tuscan Navy, which was later incorporated into the Italian Regia Marina during the unification of Italy.

The ship was built in the late 1850s and early 1860s; by the time she was completed, Italy had unified and so she only served in the Regia Marina.

The ship had a top speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) under steam, and the propulsion system was rated to produce 1,900 indicated horsepower (1,400 kW).

The work lasted some six hours, and during the operation, one of the chains snapped and killed one of the shipyard workers and wounded several other men.

[6][9] Because Magenta was already in South America, the diplomats and scientists traveled from Naples, Italy, aboard the steamers Regina and Ordita, departing on 8 November 1865 and arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 5 January.

After passing through the Indian Ocean and entering the Pacific in 1866, Magenta made stops at the British colony of Singapore and then Saigon in French Cochinchina.

[10] On 1 September, she departed Japan for Shanghai, China, and then later sailed north, entered the Yangtze River, and then anchored in the Bohai Sea.

After departing China, Magenta was damaged in a typhoon and had to stop in Java in the Dutch East Indies for repairs that lasted a month.

"[6] In addition to the observations made by Giglioli and the other scientists and the hydrographic surveys conducted in South American waters, Magenta also brought back twenty-five boxes of valuable items for display in Italian museums.

Giglioli later noted that Magenta carried too many guns for the expedition, which was intended to be a peaceful mission, and they took up space that could have been more useful to store additional maps and scientific instruments.

[12] By October 1871, Magenta was based in Venice, along with several other smaller vessels, including the screw corvette San Giovanni.

[13] The Italian government sought to establish a penal colony on the island of Borneo in the Pacific in the early 1870s, and in 1872, a plan was formulated to send the vessels Cambria and Citta di Napoli with Magenta as an escort.