Teaching archaeology from 1917 at the University of Palermo, in 1922 Pace joined the National Fascist Party, and in 1924 was a candidate in Sicily on the Fascist slate and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies.
He was Professor of Archaeology and the History of Classical Art at the University of Pisa from 1925 and from 1932 to 1935 Head of the Faculty of Literature at the University of Naples Federico II.