Folgore was the lead ship of her class of four destroyers built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) in the early 1930s.

The Folgore-class destroyers were essentially copies of the preceding Freccia class, although their beam was reduced in an unsuccessful attempt to improve their speed over that achieved by the earlier ships.

They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 3,600 nautical miles (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

Although the ships were not provided with a sonar system for anti-submarine work, they were fitted with a pair of depth charge throwers.

[3] Folgore was laid down by Officine & Cantieri Partenopei at their Naples shipyard on 30 January 1930, launched on 26 April 1931 and commissioned on 1 July 1932.