Commissioned into service in the Italian Regia Marina ("Royal Navy") in 1917, she served in World War I, participating in the Adriatic campaign.

They made a third attempt on 8 April 1918, but after aerial reconnaissance ascertained that the port of Portorož was empty, the Italians again called off the operation.

Most of the ships then returned to Taranto, but Giacinto Carini and the other four destroyers as well as one of the armored cruisers, the submarines, and the MAS boats remained at Corfu.

Once Italy and Greece resolved their disagreement, the rest of the Italian ships and the expeditionary force on the island left Corfu between 24 and 29 September 1923.

Later that year, shortly after Italy entered World War II, Bezzi died while in command of the submarine Console Generale Liuzzi and subsequently received a posthumous Gold Medal of Military Valor.

[6] Between 9 and 15 June 1940 she joined Curtatone and the torpedo boat Sirio in escorting the minelayers Crotone, Elbano Gasperi, Fasana, and Giuseppe Orlando while they laid minefields off Elba.

Giacinto Carini avoided capture and proceeded with her sister ship Nicola Fabrizi to Malta, where they handed themselves over to the Allies on 21 September 1943.

The two ships departed Malta in company with the torpedo boats Aliseo, Animoso, Fortunale, and Indomito on 5 October 1943 and returned to Italy.

[16] Giacinto Carini subsequently operated on the Allied side as a unit of the Italian Co-belligerent Navy through the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.

[11] GM 517 remained in service as a training hulk for the Corpo degli Equipaggi Militari Marittimi (CEMM, "Corps of Naval Crews") at La Maddalena, Sardinia, for a few years until she was sold for scrapping, which began in May 1963.