Gregorio de Falco

Gregorio Maria de Falco (born 8 March 1965) is an Italian naval officer and politician who was formerly a member of the Italian Senate. He is best known for his career in the Italian Navy, which saw his intervention in the attempt to solve the Costa Concordia disaster in January 2012.^[1]

Gregorio de Falco
Official portrait, 2018
Member of the Senate of the Republic
In office 23 March 2018 – 13 October 2022
Constituency	Tuscany
Personal details
Born	Gregorio Maria de Falco (1965-03-08) 8 March 1965 (age 59) Naples, Italy
Political party	M5S (2018) Independent (2018–20) A/+E (2020–21) Europeanists (2021) CD (2021–)
Alma mater	University of Milan
Profession	Naval officer
Military service
Allegiance	Italy
Branch/service	Italian Navy
Rank	Ship-of-the-line captain (Captain)
Unit	Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard

Early life and education

After graduating in law at the University of Milan, de Falco joined the Corps of the Port Captaincies in Livorno in 1994, studying at the Naval Academy.^[1]

Career

In 2000, de Falco left Livorno and joined the Captaincy in Genoa.^[1]

With the rank of lieutenant, de Falco was assigned the command in Santa Margherita Ligure, where he stood from 2003 to 2005.^[1]

Costa Concordia disaster

On 13 January 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship, owned by the Costa Crociere shipping company and under the command of Francesco Schettino, impacted a rock in the waters of Isola del Giglio, opening a 53-meter-long (174 ft) hole on the port side, followed by the partial submersion of the ship.^[2]

De Falco, who led the captaincy in Livorno, assumed the coordination of the rescues to the cruise unit in difficulty. During the radio and telephone communications between the operating room of the Livorno captaincy and the Costa Concordia, de Falco repeatedly ordered Schettino, who had abandoned ship, to return to the vessel and take charge of the ongoing passenger evacuation. De Falco's exasperated order Vada a bordo, cazzo! ("Get back on board, you prick!" or "Get the fuck [back] on board!") became very popular.^[3][4]

Political career

De Falco ran for a seat in the Italian Senate with the Five Star Movement in the 2018 general election^[5] and was elected.^[6]

He was a member of the left wing of the party and is considered to be very close to the president of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico.^[7] On 31 December 2018, De Falco was expelled from the party after being accused of having violated its code of ethics several times. In an interview, he declared that he was expelled for voting against the decree "Decreto sicurezza", and accused the Five Star Movement of lacking democracy and freedom of choice.^[8]

References

1. "Chi è Gregorio De Falco" [Who is Gregorio De Falco?] (in Italian). Il Post. 18 January 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
2. "Concordia: 5 anni fa la tragedia che causò 32 vittime". ANSA. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
3. Pretini, Diego (13 January 2017). "Costa Concordia, De Falco 5 anni dopo: "Schettino? Se mi avesse dato retta, gli avrebbero steso i tappeti rossi"". Il Fatto Quotidiano. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
4. "De Falco, l'eroe normale della Concordia" [De Falco, the normal hero of Concord]. Fanpage.it (in Italian). 18 January 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
5. "Sale a bordo dei 5 Stelle Gregorio De Falco, l'anti Schettino". The Huffington Post. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
6. "Elezioni: De Falco, io eletto al Senato". ANSA. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
7. "Caso Diciotti, 5Stelle divisi. De Falco con Fico: "Fate scendere i naufraghi". Ma Buffagni critica il presidente della Camera". La Repubblica. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
8. "M5S espelle senatori De Falco e De Bonis" [M5S expels senators De Falco and De Bonis]. ANSA (in Italian). 31 December 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2021.

External links

• Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian): XVIII legislature.