ALONE ON THE STAND

The court sentenced Schettino to 10 years for multiple manslaughter, five years for causing the shipwreck and one year for abandoning his passengers. He also received a one month civil penalty for failure to report the accident correctly.

He was left alone on the stand to answer for the disaster after the ship's owner, the Costa Cruises unit of Carnival Corp , paid a 1 million euro ($1.3 million at the time) fine and prosecutors accepted plea bargains from five officials.

"Lots of people who were there and played a role were excluded today," Schettino's lawyer Donato Laino said outside the theatre. "We think the facts of the case were different."

He and Costa Cruises were jointly ordered to pay a total of 30,000 euros each in compensation to many of the ship's passengers as well as millions of euros in compensation to Italian government ministries, the region of Tuscany and the island of Giglio for environmental damage.

Earlier on Wednesday Schettino had rejected prosecution accusations he had shown no sense of responsibility or compassion for the victims, saying "grief should not be put on show to make a point."

The massive hulk of the Costa Concordia was left abandoned on its side for two-and-a-half years before it was towed away in the most expensive maritime wreck recovery in history. The last body was not recovered until 2014.

Schettino's defence team argued he prevented an even worse disaster by steering the ship close to the island as it sank. They said the sentence that was sought by prosecutors went beyond even sentences sought for mafia killers.