 When the Italo-Turkish War began on 29 September 1911, Francesco Ferruccio assigned to the 4th Division of the 2nd Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet, together with her sisters Giuseppe Garibaldi and Varese. Francesco Ferruccio and Giuseppe Garibaldi bombarded Tripoli on 3 – 4 October while Varese stood offshore to watch for any Ottoman ships. The desultory bombardment killed 12 Ottoman soldiers and severely wounded 23 more in addition to 7 dead civilians. On 13 October, the three sisters sailed to Augusta, Sicily to recoal. Francesco Ferruccio and Giuseppe Garibaldi bombarded Beirut on 24 February 1912, sinking the elderly Ottoman ironclad Avnillâh and forced the torpedo boat Ankara to scuttle itself. Varese is sometimes credited with participating also in the bombardment. The bombardment killed over 140 civilians and wounded more than 200 more. The ship was then transferred to Libya and remained there for the rest of the war. During the First Balkan War, she was deployed to Albania from 18 February to 5 June 1913 and then made another deployment there from 4 January to 7 February 1914.
