The four ships of the Etna class were designed in Italy as domestically produced versions of the British-built cruiser Giovanni Bausan.

These cruisers were intended to serve as "battleship destroyers",[1][2] and represented a temporary embrace of the Jeune École doctrine by the Italian naval command.

[4] The main armament of the ships consisted of two Armstrong 254 mm (10 in), 30-caliber breech-loading guns mounted in barbettes fore and aft.

She was also equipped with a secondary battery of six 152 mm (6 in), 32-caliber, breech-loading guns that were carried in sponsons along the sides of the ship.

[2] Vesuvio was built by the Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando shipyard in Livorno, with her keel being laid down on 10 July 1883.

[2] She was present during a naval review held for the German Kaiser Wilhelm II during a visit to Italy later that year.

[9] In 1900, Vesuvio and Ettore Fieramosca were sent to Chinese waters to assist in the suppression of the Boxer Uprising as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance.