Costa Concordia shipwreck’s hero and villain lay bare two souls of Italy

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Costa Concordia shipwreck’s hero and villain lay bare two souls of Italy

Coastguard official’s harangue of ship’s captain strikes a chord with Italians called to order by their technocratic governmentAs the 114,500 tonne Costa Concordia loomed out of the night off the coast of Giglio last Friday, two Italian seafarers were unwittingly on their way to becoming nationally – and internationally – notorious for radically different reasons. After the floating palace of delights hit a rock, the available evidence suggests that its captain, Francesco Schettino, refused to acknowledge the seriousness of what had happened, delayed giving the order to abandon ship and then took to a lifeboat himself, long before the chaotic evacuation was complete.