Vito Gruosso, an Italian politician and trade-union leader from Basilicata who served as a senator in three legislatures, died in Potenza on Aug. 13, 2026, at 78, after a brief illness, Rai News reported.
He joined the provincial secretariat of the Potenza Chamber of Labor in 1981 and became secretary of CGIL Basilicata, the regional branch of Italy’s main trade-union confederation, in 1985. He held the post until 1994, when he was elected to the Senate from the Melfi area of northern Basilicata. He served on the Senate committee on labor and social security.
He was re-elected in 1996 and represented Melfi through the next Senate term. He was the first signer of a bill proposing a province of Melfi and another proposing the transfer of the Camillo d’Errico art collection and library from Matera to Palazzo San Gervasio.
During his third Senate term, from 2001 to 2006, he worked on measures addressing work outside standard permanent employment and psychological harassment in the workplace. After his Senate career, he wrote about politics and political memory in Amori sospesi tra ideali e cambiamento, which he presented in Potenza in May 2025.
