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At 9:30pm (2030 GMT), two and a half hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia, the Costa Concordia hit a rocky outcrop as it sailed past the island of Giglio.
As the ship took on water, the captain tried to turn it towards the island's port, but the ship started to tilt and sink.
At 10:10pm, the abandon ship signal was given. Most passengers escaped in lifeboats, but evacuation efforts were hampered by the angle of the tilting ship and others were winched to safety by helicopter.
The rescue continued over the weekend, with the ship's safety officer, Marrico Giampietroni, being discovered and evacuated with a broken leg at 12:00pm on Sunday. The search continues for the missing.
Captain Francesco Schettino said the rocks were not marked on maps and were not detected by navigation systems.
But the ship's owners, Costa Cruises, said the captain had made an "unapproved, unauthorised" deviation in course, sailing too close to the island in order to show the ship to locals.
Automatic tracking systems show the route of the Costa Concordia until it ran aground. The ship made the same journey through the strait on 6 January this year, but sailed much further from the island, according to positioning information provided by Lloyd's List.
Investigators have recovered the "black box" system similar to those used by aircraft, that record voices on the bridge, as well as radar position and other data, which they hope will explain how the incident happened.
Costa Concordia - cruise ship | 
Costa Concordia cruise ship sinking
