As a musicologist, he achieved international renown for his scholarship of Italian music from the late medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque eras.
[2] In 1930 he earned a degree in literature from the University of Florence with an emphasis in art history; writing a thesis on majolica painting of the Renaissance.
Upon completing this obligation, he returned to Palermo in 1931 where he simultaneously took a position as music critic at the newspaper L'Ora and began a career as a concert pianist.
[2] He achieved prestige for his work restoring the Palermo Conservatory's library after it was destroyed by bombing during World War II.
[2] Pirotta established himself as an important academic with his first book, Il Sacchetti e la Tecnica Musicale (1935, with Ettore Li Gotti) which focused on the music and poetry of the Trecento.