Pittella then joined the Labour Federation, and in 1995 successfully ran as a councilor for the province of Potenza.

[9][10][11] In January 2015, due to the illicit repayments obtained between 2009 and 2010, Pitella was condemned by the Court of Accounts of Potenza to "compensate the damage produced to the Basilicata Region" for the amount of €6,319.84.

[15] In the 2019 Basilicata regional election, Pittella was a divisive figure within the centre-left coalition due to the 2018 investigation, and was replaced by Carlo Trerotola.

[19] On 22 December 2021, the Court of Matera acquitted him of all charges and rejected the request for three years in prison presented by the public prosecutor as part of what came to be known as the Sanitopoli lucana scandal, while seven managers of healthcare companies had instead been sentenced to sentences between two and five years.

[20][21] Placed at the top of Action's list for the Senate of the Republic in the proportional quota in Basilicata, he was not elected.

[28][29] In justifying his and the party's decision to support Bardi and join the centre-right coalition in an audio message, Pittella compared the behavior of the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement towards Action, alleging vetoes,[30] to that of Jews during the Holocaust.

[31][32][33] In his written statement announcing Action's support for Bardi, alongside the Action Basilicata regional secretary Donato Pessolano, Pittella wrote that they shared "elements of his program on which to build an agreement", in particular the "relaunch of health and welfare, a reorganization and implementation of regional governance, the identification of strategies for development", which also evaluate the establishment of a sovereign fund against depopulation, "a strategy for culture that sees Matera as a beacon", and a fight against precarious employment, with a particular focus "in favour of agriculture and aiming for a high-performance governance of forestation".