The Unit, the latest of the Maestrale Class, was built at the Riva Trigoso Shipyards, Genoa, and commissioned on May 4, 1985. In 1991 she took part in the Gulf War Coalition operations.

In 2008 she underwent a thorough modernization regarding both the platform (engines and main technical rigs), and the Combat System. From November 2009 to June 2012, the Unit took part in the UNIFIL operation in Lebanon and, from November 2010 to April 2011, in the Atalanta operation at the Command of the European Naval Force (Task Force 465), to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and along the Somali coasts.

Three other Units of the Italian Navy previously bore the same name: the first was a sail Corvette formerly belonging to the Navy of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was incorporated into the newborn Navy of the Italian Kingdom in 1861. The second Unit was a Destroyer launched in 1904 and in commission in the Kingdom Navy until 1924.

The third was a Turbine Class Destroyer, built at the Odero Shipyards, Genoa, in 1928, which took part in the Spanish Civil War and in World War II. She carried out escort tasks and was sunk on July 5, 1940 in the Libyan bay of Tobruk by a torpedo bomber launched from the British aircraft carrier Eagle.

Zeffiro is the sweet western breeze blowing in spring. Represented in Greek mythology like a winged boy holding a bunch of spring flowers, he was the offspring of Aeolus – god of the winds, and Eos - goddess of the dawn and bearer of day light, and he belongs to Venus’ retinue. The symbolism of the traditional Crest refers to a “Tower of the Winds,” a huge octagonal hydraulic clock whose fronts bore embedded panels representing the eight most important winds depicted as human or winged beings. The tower was built in Athens in the I Century B.C. by Andronicus of Cyrrhus and is still intact.

In the Crest the tower of the winds is in the middle of the circle; at the base whirling waters agitated by the wind and in the sky a neat writing: “Nitor in Adversum” (Splendent, strong in Hardships). On top of the circle is the towered crown with rostra, to symbolize honour and valour.