In January 1935 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and from July 1935 to August 1936, during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, he was head of the special SIM section for East Africa (AO), infiltrating Palestinian agent Jacir Bey in Negus Hailé Selassié's entourage.

Jacir Bey also offered to persuade the Emperor to reach a peace agreement with Italy, effectively turning Ethiopia into an Italian protectorate; the plan never materialized, however, and Jacir Bey, who had nonetheless demanded a hefty payment for his services, was later assassinated by the SIM in the Netherlands after trying to blackmailing the Italian government by threatening to publish all documents pertaining to the affair.

From December 1936, after the arrival of massive Italian military aid in Spain, he was appointed chief of staff of the CTV; in the absence of its commander Mario Roatta, who was in Italy at the time, he prepared the battle for the conquest of Malaga.

Faldella then assumed command of the 5th Regiment of legionary infantry, participating in the conquest of Bilbao and the battle of Santander (June–August 1937), for which he was awarded the knight's cross of the Military Order of Savoy.

On 1 July 1943, nine days before the beginning of the Allied invasion, he was promoted to Brigadier General; in August, at the end of the campaign, he retreated to mainland Italy along with Guzzoni and the remnants of the Sixth Army, which was finally dissolved following the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943.

[7][8][9][1][4] After the armistice, by order of General Antonio Sorice, Minister of War, Faldella returned to intelligence activities, ostensibly joining the Italian Social Republic, where he was appointed General Intendant of the armed forces, but secretly working for the royalist Italian government in the south, taking command of a vast and efficient clandestine network operating in the Julian March.