It returned to die in the place in which it was born.
Nine years after being launched in triumph from Genoa, the battered, rust-stained Costa Concordia limped slowly back into the port last week.
Its starboard side a twisted mess of metal from the impact of crashing onto the rugged granite shore of Giglio island and its decks flecked with sea salt, the Concordia was a very different ship from the one that left Genoa in 2005, its gleaming white hull, sleek lines and swimming pools promising luxury and leisure for eager holiday-makers.
The words Costa Concordia, which once stood out proudly in jaunty navy blue, were hard to discern, half-concealed by algae and patches of rust.
Hauled by a team of eight tug boats sent out to meet it from the port, the Concordia was slowly towed through the harbour walls, as a cacophony of sirens rang out from other vessels.
“We can finally breathe a sigh of relief,” said Gian Luca Galletti, the environment minister, as the ship was returned to the city which gave the world one of its greatest mariners, Christopher Columbus.
Italians were embarrassed by the capsizing of the Concordia, seeing its captain Francesco Schettino as a shameful symbol of their country’s worst traits, including recklessness, vanity and denial of responsibility.
The successful raising of the Concordia, in large part due to Italian engineering expertise, is being seen by many as a form of redemption, of honour restored.
In a cruel irony, the Concordia will be demolished in Genoa’s Voltri port, a short distance from the shipbuilding yards of Sestri Ponente, where it was built in 2005. It began its maiden voyage a year later, setting out from the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, for a departure that was attended by model Eva Herzigova.
But in what was regarded as a bad omen at the time, the bottle of champagne that was swung against the hull of the ship failed to smash. For superstitious nautical types, it was an augury that finally came to fruition on the night of Jan 13, 2012, when the 14-deck ship, which was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, rammed into rocks off Giglio, gouging a massive tear in its hull.
The Concordia’s arrival in Genoa was the culmination of a two-year effort by a multinational team, including Britons, to raise, recover and remove the liner in one of the most ambitious maritime operations of its kind. “A circle has been closed — it was born in Sestri Ponente, it will be laid to rest in Genoa,” reported Ansa, Italy’s national news agency.
Encased in 30 giant buoyancy tanks to keep it afloat, it set off from Giglio, off the coast of Tuscany, on Wednesday and was pulled more than 150 nautical miles across the Mediterranean for the four-day voyage to Genoa, moving at barely walking pace — just two knots.
As the Concordia is made secure in its new berth, Italian officials will launch a new search for the remains of a crew member whose body was never recovered from the wreck. Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter, is the last of the 32 victims whose body has not been found.
Then the £80 million project to demolish the 950-ft liner — well over twice the tonnage of the Titanic — will start.
The complex docking procedure was watched by Matteo Renzi, the Prime Minister, who travelled to Genoa in order to watch the ship arrive, secure at last.
At the helm of the ship, in a specially constructed operations room, was Nick Sloane, the sandy-haired, ever cheerful South African salvage master who led the two-year effort to raise, refloat and remove the ship.
“It’s really a huge relief,” he told The Daily Telegraph from the ship as it was moored alongside a dock in Genoa’s port. “It’s been an honour and a privilege to be a part of this project. But now it’s time to say goodbye and to head home to my family [in South Africa].”