At the beginning of 1928, the Italian Regia Marina, not to be disadvantaged compared to other marinas, needed to build new cruisers that could be used with Trento-class ships, until the economic resources of the Italian Government allowed them to build new battleships or to renovate the old ones like Cavour or Giulio Cesare.
Since there was a standstill in the building and in the study of projects, the only existing one was what the Navy Ministry had prepared for a Trento-class cruiser in which the thickness of the armor was increased to 150 mm.