He was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Regia Aeronautica between December 1932 and October 1933, when he was assigned to command the 2nd Territorial Air Zone (Z.A.T.

In the month of November, when the situation on the Libyan front deteriorated due to the British offensive, the new fighter MC.

While the High Command demanded all the planes that are available to be brought to the front, Pricolo ordered the MC 202s to remain in the warehouses, so as not to send them into combat with untrained personnel and without sand filters.

This decision, even though motivated by technical reasons, undermined Pricolo in his post of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, because he was blamed for having delayed the delivery of new aircraft and therefore disobeyed higher orders (14 November 1941).

General Pricolo had the insight to start the development of torpedo bombers, which was long opposed by the top leadership of the Air Force and Navy, convinced that it was an "expensive toy".

Pricolo also worked to build the Macchi C. 202, which was intended to modernize the Regia Aeronautica, whose aircraft, although numerous, were technically unable to compete with the German Messerschmitt Bf 109s and the British Supermarine Spitfires.