"Pola" went on a short cruise to Italian Libya on 10–12 March 1937, with Mussolini aboard. On 7 June, she took part in a naval review in the Gulf of Naples held for the visiting German Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg. Another review took place on 5 May 1938 when the German dictator Adolf Hitler made a state visit to Italy. On 7 March 1939, "Pola" and her sisterships sortied from Taranto to intercept a squadron of Republican warships—three cruisers and eight destroyers—attempting to reach the Black Sea. The Italian ships were ordered not to open fire but merely to try to impede the progress of the Spanish ships and force them to dock at Augusta, Sicily. The Spanish commander refused and instead steamed to Bizerte in French Tunisia, where his ships were interned. The next month, on 7–9 April, "Pola" provided gunfire support to Italian forces occupying Albania.