Even while the bodies of the drowned were being retrieved from the wreck of the Costa Concordia, the stricken cruise ship was being freighted with allegorical significance by the Italian and international media. On the most obvious reading, the role of Silvio Berlusconi at the helm of the Italian ship of state is taken by Francesco Schettino, the hapless captain who says he didn’t mean to abandon ship mid-evacuation – he tripped into a lifeboat, your honour – and denies that he was indulging in some low-level bunga bunga when the ship ran aground. On the other hand, Schettino is under house arrest, facing charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, while Berlusconi still struts free, declaring his willingness to return to office. It seems there’s nothing he’d like more than a phone call from the harbour master (a cameo performance from President Napolitano) telling him to get the fuck back on board (‘vada a bordo, cazzo!’).

LRB 9 February 2012 | PDF Download