When the ferry from the Tuscan mainland docks in the port of Giglio Island after about an hour's crossing, a strong wind is blowing.

Foam crowns dance on the azure sea.

Before the passengers disembark, they pull their hats over their ears and fold up their collars.

Houses and shops at the port are also wrapped up: shutters closed, shutters down, doors locked.

Tables and chairs in front of the restaurants hibernate under lashed plastic sheets.

The island has perhaps 700 inhabitants, and apart from the port town there is hardly anything apart from two other villages.

Holidays are only open in summer.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.

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Ten years ago, on a Friday the 13th, the weather conditions in front of Giglio were similar to those of these days.

The fact that the wind was blowing from the northeast at a force of four was still the greatest luck on an unlucky day of historic proportions.

Seven seconds after 9.45 p.m. on January 13, 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia collided with a reef off the east coast of the island.

At the time of the impact, the 290-meter-long and 50,000-tonne ocean liner was underway with more than 3,200 passengers and a good 1,000 crew members on board, at 15.3 knots, a good 28 kilometers per hour.

That was far too fast for a ship of this size to pass barely 100 meters from the coastline.

Such a maneuver is called “inchino” in Italian: the ship and its crew “bow” to greet the people ashore.

In the case of giant cruisers like the Costa Concordia, it was rather flashy behavior that should at least have been tolerated by the shipping company, but for which the 51-year-old captain Francesco Schettino was responsible in this specific case.

32 people were therefore killed, including twelve passengers from Germany.

After the impact, the lights went out on the ship

Barely three hours before the disaster, the ship left Civitavecchia for a cruise across the western Mediterranean. Investigations into the cause and cause of the accident later revealed that the Costa Concordia was lost seconds after the collision. The rock tore the hull on the port side of the ship over a length of 70 meters. The penetrating water paralyzed the diesel engines for propulsion and power supply and blocked the rudders. Immediately after the loud burst of impact that could be heard and felt all over the ship, the lights went out on the decks and in the cabins. Over the loudspeaker announcement, the passengers, most of whom were still sitting on board for the first dinner, learned that the power failure would soon be resolved. Keep calm, stay where you are.

Meanwhile, the ship drifted further north, past the port entrance, out to sea. Until the wind from the northeast slowed the Costa Concordia, turned it 180 degrees and drove it back towards the port. The ship ran aground at about 10:10 p.m. in front of the Punta Gabbianara rock spur, a few hundred meters north of the port entrance. It began to list more and more towards the coast and eventually capsized to starboard. Out at sea it would have sunk a hundred meters and would have killed many more people.

During the evaluation of tachographs and telephone calls, as well as testimony and expert opinions at the later court hearings, the statements of Captain Schettino about the events were invalidated. Schettino had claimed that he himself had steered the wrecked ship towards Giglio in order to be able to bring passengers and crew to safety on the island. The recorded phone calls between Gregorio De Falco, who at the time coordinated the rescue operation as head of the coast guard in Livorno, and Schettino became legendary. Several times, De Falco ordered the captain, who had left the Costa Concordia with one of the first lifeboats, to return to his ship immediately and to report to him how many people were still on board. After all sorts of excuses by Schettino, De Falco's collar burst:"Get back on board, shit again!"