Antonio Sciesa was one of four Balilla-class submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the late 1920s.

[1] For surface running, the boats were powered by two 2,450-brake-horsepower (1,827 kW) diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft.

The submarines were also fitted with an auxiliary diesel cruising engine that gave them a speed of 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) on the surface.

[1] Antonio Sciesa was laid down by Odero-Terni-Orlando at their Muggiano shipyard on 20 October 1925, launched on 12 August 1928 and completed on 12 April 1929.

[3] During the Spanish Civil War she unsuccessfully attacked two ships during a patrol off Alicante on 6–20 August 1937.