GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy (AP) - The extraordinary righting of the Costa Concordia from its watery Tuscan graveyard has given Italy a boost of sorely needed pride, helping erase the shame many felt after an Italian captain took the cruise ship off course in an apparent stunt, crashed it and then abandoned ship before everyone was evacuated.
It didn't seem to matter that the chief salvage master was from South Africa or that his 500-member crew hailed from 26 different nations. Italy, beset by two years of recession and such political instability that each day brings relief that the government hasn't fallen, had pulled off an unprecedented engineering feat as the world watched live on television.
"Well done!" retiree Aldo Mattera said Tuesday morning as he surveyed the Concordia, upright for the first time since the Jan. 13, 2012, shipwreck that killed 32 people near Giglio Island.
Premier Enrico Letta also weighed in, emphasizing the importance of restoring the nation's civic pride.
As he personally thanked Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency who oversaw the project, Letta said the operation had demonstrated what it means to take responsibility for something, no matter how risky or how high the stakes.
"In this case, the public image of our country was one of fleeing responsibility," Letta said, referring to the captain's early evacuation from the ship and his subsequent refusal to reboard even after being ordered to do so by the coast guard.
"Instead today, thanks to all your work and thanks to this concept of assuming responsibility" Italy's reputation has been restored, Letta told Gabrielli at a ceremony at the government palace in Rome.
A few hours earlier, a fog horn had mourned off Giglio at 4 a.m. and Gabrielli declared that the Concordia had been successfully righted and had settled onto its new perch on a false seabed.
The development now allows for a renewed search for the two bodies that were never recovered and for the ship to eventually be towed away and broken up for scrap. It will also enable recovery crews to go from cabin to cabin opening safes so they can to return the valuables that passengers left behind in their frantic nighttime escape.