Costa Concordia: a holiday you'll never forget

      The practice of bowing or of the tilt?

     Costa slogan should be changed from "The holiday you miss" to "a holiday you'll never forget". The fleet has grown over time, with Costa Classic, Cheerful, Romantic, Victoria, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Luck, Magic, Serene, Pacific, but I remember very well the day when announced the entry into service of the new flagship Concordia. It was Sunday, 9.7.2006 and the media conveyed the majesty expressed in meters and number of Jacuzzi. The watchwords spoken were luxury and opulence combined with a ship transformed from a means of making a trip to a place of sailing holiday. It’s redundant to recover the parallel with the Titanic, the liner considered unsinkable and that collided with an iceberg during its own maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 14/04/1912.

     On 13.1.2012 a disaster struck the Concordia. Who was on board? Young people facing with the tranquillity of a vacation? Elderly who are sailing trim towards the avenue of cold marble? O young married couples who saw the tomb of love in marriage? The story of the sinking is incredible and it follows that in the XXI century we like to make huge projects, but full of holes! A list of passengers remained on board; the staff that fails to help the passengers; the abandon of ship by the captain Schettino; the environmental hazard caused by the tanks filled with naphtha and gas oil. Aren’t clear rules on evacuation as had not yet been carried out of the tutorials.

     Err is human, but circumstances combined to navigation along the coast of Giglio island are a gamble. Viewing of images gives the same impression of a new toy given to a child: it get him/her euphoria, but soon we’ll find that toy broken, tilted on its side and beached in a corner of the apartment. The order issued by the investigating magistrate of Grosseto explains that Schettino stood on the cliff of Giglio and watched the ship sink. Perhaps the selection parameter in the workplace are too mild and hasty and not aimed at understanding the inclination of the candidates. I played a little with the words, forgive me. I wanted to approach the edge of the Italian language, I don’t get beached.

     Source “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”,  an italian newspaper, January 24, 2012, p. 24.