The Principe di Carignano class was a group of three ironclad warships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1860s.

In an effort to reduce the maintenance budget to offset the cost of newer ships under construction, Principe di Carignano was stricken from the naval register in 1875; Messina and Conte Verde followed in 1880, the latter just nine years after completion.

The first two vessels of the Principe di Carignano class were initially ordered as steam frigates by the Regia Marina Sarda (Royal Sardinian Navy) shortly before the unification of Italy.

Italy considered the Austrian Empire to be its main rival, since it controlled predominantly Italian areas, including Venice, that the newly unified kingdom sought to incorporate into the country.

Their engines produced a top speed of 10.2 to 11.4 knots (18.9 to 21.1 km/h; 11.7 to 13.1 mph), with Conte Verde being the fastest member of the class, from 1,968 indicated horsepower (1,468 kW).

[4] Principe di Carignano was the only member of the class to enter service in time to take part in the Third Italian War of Independence against the Austrian Empire.

[5] After initially remaining in port, the Italian fleet under Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano launched an attack on the island of Lissa in mid-July; the Austrian fleet under Rear Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff sortied to mount a counterattack, which resulted in the Battle of Lissa on 20 July.

Principe di Carignano, the lead ship in the line of battle, was not heavily engaged, as Tegetthoff had attacked the Italian fleet at its center.

[3] Neither ship played a role in the attack on Civitavecchia that year—the last stage of the Italian wars of unification that resulted in the seizure of Rome—owing to the very poor state of the Regia Marina in the aftermath of Lissa.

[9] In 1875, Principe di Carignano was sold for scrap to reduce the maintenance budget in an attempt to offset part of the cost of the new Duilio and Italia-class ironclads then under construction; Messina and Conte Verde followed in 1880, though the latter remained laid up until she too went to the breakers' yard in 1898.