She was initially a French Bucentaure class whose construction began in August 1812, but the works stalled and the ship was transferred to the Kingdom of Naples in 1813.

[2] In September 1825, just a few months after being launched, Vesuvio was sent under the command of Captain Giuseppe De Blasi to Tripoli and Tangiers, where she performed a demonstration against the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean.

[4] On 1 July 1843 the ship, under the command of Brigadier Raffaele De Cosa and carrying the princess Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, wife of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, left Naples for Rio de Janeiro together with the frigate Amalia, Ship of the line Partenope, the Queen Isabella Frigate and a Brazilian Naval Division commanded by Admiral Di Teodoro Beaurepaire.

[2] On 28 July 1845, escorted by a naval formation (frigates Queen Isabella, Amalia and Partenope, corvette Cristina, aviso Delfino), she carried to Palermo the King of Naples, the counts of Caserta and Trapani and their entourage.

After the capture of Naples, on 7 September 1860,[10] Vesuvio was laid up in the city docks, and despite being formally incorporated into the new Royal Italian Navy on 17 March 1861 (now reclassified as a corvette and with her armament reduced to 48 guns of 80 pounds), it was decided that the conditions in which the aging vessel was found discouraged the idea of her recommissioning.