Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that tragically sank and claimed 32 lives in 2012, is back in the headlines. Now 64, Schettino is seeking early release from the 16-year prison sentence he began serving in 2017 after exhausting all appeals.
According to Italian media, Schettino has applied for “semi-liberty,” a legal option in Italy that permits inmates who show good behavior to serve the remainder of their sentence outside of prison, once half the term is completed. A court will review his request on March 4, 2025.
The Costa Concordia, operated by Costa Cruises (a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation), was a large vessel with space for nearly 5,000 passengers and crew. The ship ran aground off Italy’s Giglio Island on January 13, 2012, after Schettino deviated from its planned course to perform a close-to-shore “salute.”
The maneuver went disastrously wrong when the ship hit an underwater rock, tearing a hole in the hull and disabling its systems. The vessel began to list and eventually capsized with over 4,000 people onboard.
In the aftermath, Schettino faced international outrage after it was revealed he had abandoned the ship while many passengers remained onboard. He claimed he fell off or left to help coordinate rescue efforts, but a widely circulated recording caught the Italian Coast Guard ordering him to return—an order he ignored.
Schettino was convicted in 2015 of causing the shipwreck, multiple counts of manslaughter, abandoning passengers, and dereliction of duty. His sentence of 16 years included time at a Rome prison beginning in 2017.
Costa Cruises was fined more than $1 million and reached financial settlements with survivors and families of victims. Carnival later launched a training facility in the Netherlands to improve safety protocols.
Many survivors and victims’ families have condemned Schettino’s request for early release, citing lingering emotional trauma and unresolved grief.
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