[1] The main armament of the Vettor Pisani-class ships consisted of twelve quick-firing (QF) Cannone da 152/40 A Modello 1891 guns in single mounts.

[2] Vettor Pisani, named after the eponymous Venetian admiral,[4] was laid down on 7 December 1892 at the Royal Shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia.

[5] Vettor Pisani arrived there on 20 August and made port visits in Japan, Korea and Vladivostok before departing the area on 29 November 1901.

She arrived at La Spezia in February 1902, but only remained in Italian waters for a year before departing for another year-long cruise to the Far East on 15 April 1903.

[6] When the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12 began on 29 September 1911, Vettor Pisani was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, Inspector of Torpedo Boats.

The Italians blockaded the port and the Duke requested permission to issue an ultimatum for the Ottoman authorities to surrender the ship lest he bombard the city with Vettor Pisani and the battleship Ammiraglio di Saint Bon.

[10] Several months later, Vettor Pisani supported an unsuccessful sortie by five torpedo boats into the Dardanelles in search of the Ottoman fleet on the night of 18/19 July.

She spent the war in the Adriatic[12] and participated in an abortive attempt in mid-1915 to bombard a rail line near Ragusa Vecchia on the Dalmatian coast.

[13] The loss of Giuseppe Garibaldi and the sinking of the armored cruiser Amalfi by another submarine on 7 July severely restricted the activities of the other ships based at Venice.