Process for manufacturing tyres for vehicle wheels

An apparatus for deposition on a support of at least one reinforcing element of a tyre for vehicle wheels, comprising:

• a toroidal support;
• a feeding device of a continuous reinforcing band-like element;
• a cutter configured to cut to size a piece of said continuous reinforcing band-like element;
• a gripping device including at least two gripping elements each configured to grip one of opposite sides of said piece of the continuous reinforcing band-like element along a longitudinal direction substantially parallel to a predetermined feeding direction of the feeding device for the continuous reinforcing element into association with the cutter and to deposit said piece of the continuous reinforcing band-like element on said toroidal support at a deposition part of a predetermined curvilinear deposition path, wherein said deposition path is defined on a surface of the toroidal support which is not planar along the axial direction thereof, said at least two gripping elements being configured to deform said piece of the continuous reinforcing band-like element according to a curvature of said deposition part before said at least two gripping elements deposit said piece of the continuous reinforcing band-like element on said toroidal support, wherein at least one gripping element of said at least two gripping elements is rotatable in a plane coinciding with or substantially parallel to a gripping plane by pivoting around a respective pin axis, each pin axis being substantially perpendicular to said gripping plane and being defined at an end portion, with respect to said longitudinal direction, of its associated gripping element.