Locals in Grosseto also showed sympathy for Schettino.
“We cannot just crucify Schettino,” said 28 year old Maria at a bar in the city centre.
As he unloaded groceries outside a store, Giacomo Melluso said: “Maybe it wasn’t all Schettino’s fault.”
The prosecution and defence have called hundreds of witnesses for the trial, although a judge will have to rule on the exact number during future hearings.
There are also 250 parties that have asked to be plaintiffs, including the island of Giglio itself.
The trial has been long awaited by the families of the victims and survivors who have complained about the long delays in Italy’s justice system, where criminal trials can last for months or even years.
Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino leaves court on April 15, 2013 in Grosseto/AFP
Schettino has been charged with manslaughter, causing environmental damage and abandoning ship and faces up to 20 years in jail.
The Costa Concordia crashed into a group of rocks off Giglio on the night of January 13, 2012, with 4,229 people from 70 countries on board.
The ship veered sharply and keeled over near the shore, sparking a panicky and delayed evacuation hampered by the failure of some lifeboats to deploy.
Hundreds of people who had been sitting down to dinner were forced to jump into the sea to escape, many of them still wearing their formal evening wear.
Survivors described scenes “like the Titanic”.
Among those who died were an Italian honeymooner who could not swim, a Frenchman who gave his wife his life jacket before they leapt into the sea and a Hungarian musician who went back to his cabin to get his violin.
Four other crew members and a Costa manager have entered plea bargains with brief prison sentences, which will be heard at a separate hearing on July 20.
“This shows there were other responsibilities,” Schettino’s lawyer, Domenico Pepe, told reporters.
Costa earlier admitted limited responsibility as Schettino’s employer and was ordered to pay one million euros ($1.3 million) in a controversial ruling that has excluded it from criminal proceedings.
A vast salvage operation is under way to refloat the 290 metre (951 foot) vessel, which is not expected to be completed until later this year or in 2014.
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