To see the Costa Concordia wreck, go to maps.google.com,
put the location as: giglio island, italy

If not in satellite view, get in satellite view.

Now look at the east coast of the island -- midway between the north and south ends of the island -- you will see Giglio Porto. That's where it's at. Now zoom in on Giglio Porto.

There is that dashed line labeled Giglio - Porto St Stefano. Well the Costa Contra is about 1000 feet north of that dashed line. And about 50 feet from the coast (the map legend thingy that shows distances is at the lower left). As you zoom in, you can clearly see all the windows ... err portholes and the ship laying on its side.

Sorry, no "street view"

[font color = red]On Edit[/font] - I said "As you zoom in, you can clearly see all the windows ... err portholes and the ship laying on its side.". Well duh on me. You can't see *ALL* the windows ... err portholes -- on the entire ship -- more than half of them are under water and/or on the side of the ship not facing upward.

ship could have been a
novelty 'sideway' hotel,

or low-income housing

the seven seas once again! Much more beautiful right side up!

All of her innards must be corroded beyond recouping, not to mention her electronic circuitry.

What a monumental waste--all because of the big-headed captain showing off for his passengers.

If she settled on an even keel she probably would have been recoverable; there were liners during the Second World War that were sunk in 1940 and put back into service after the defeat of Germany, mainly because they sank in the "right" way.

I've been looking for a link so I could watch this operation for days now. Being an old 'work with my hands' kind of guy I'd like to watch them do this

The project is described here:
http://www.theparbucklingproject.com/page.php?page=progetto

Follow the links to see what has been done. Remarkable engineering, but more impressive is the contrast to other disasters: professionals from all over the world doing the salvage/recovery, insurance companies paying the tab, government in charge of the overall operation and prosecution of the negligent.

Then compare it to the Gulf blowout, Fukushima, or the Exxon Valdez. It's not perfect, but not even close to those. In fact, it may be the best handled of any environmental disaster.

Alternate live sources:
http://media.theage.com.au/national/selections/livestream-costa-concordia-salvage-4751321.html
http://live.reuters.com/Event/Raising_the_Costa_Concordia

Like I said in the OP, Italians take a backseat to nobody in the engineering department. After all, they are the proud descendants of the Roman Army Engineering Corps.

Mediterranean cruise!

The reason certain cruise ships come so close to the coast line in that particular location is to drop off bundles of drugs. He said it's common knowledge in that area and local law enforcement is part of the operation. That's why the captain was acting so weird after the incident, he figured he would be taken care and cleared of culpability since he was just doing what he was instructed to do. and he probably would have been taken care of if the media didn't expose his behavior. It's not like he's sitting in a prison cell awaiting trial. He's kicking back at home with his wife in the seaside town of Meta di Sorrento, near Naples, awaiting a trail that may never happen.

right in the media's sights?
I rather think it was a hot-shot, top-gun mentality that led the captain to buzz the coastline to impress his passengers.

I'm sure I follow you. The Costa Concordia was in service for six years before this incident.

I'm working at a museum right now in the research department; we spent a few months going through a frighteningly exhaustive list of ships which carried emigrants to this city and their histories. The number of them that were lost in astonishingly stupid ways beggars the imagination.

under floodlights with the black Mediterranean beyond.

Fugro Seacore out of Falmouth