The palace was born thanks to an architectural transformation work of the old convents of the Croce and of the Trinità di Palazzo, near the Royal Palace , destined by King Ferdinand IV to house the royal cadets.
The work began in 1775 and the building was originally intended for the cadets of the Neapolitan Army, then became the residence of the minister John Acton and subsequently, until 1825 , the seat of the ministers of state of his Bourbon majesty. From that date it was inhabited by the prince of Salerno. With Garibaldi's conquest of 1860 it became the headquarters of the general military command of the Neapolitan provinces . Since then it has been a succession of military commands.
Since 2015, the building has been the headquarters of the Southern Operational Forces Command of the Italian Army .