Indeed, in the face of the enormity of the tragedy apparently caused by Captain Schettino’s navigational misjudgment, Italy openly sought, and found, some solace in Captain De Falco’s clear-headed reaction in those chaotic moments as the ship began to sink with no obvious leadership to oversee the rescue operations.

Then, too, Captains Schettino and De Falco were portrayed in the news media as the dual natures of a “maritime nation that does not know how to use the sea, that has been defeated by the sea,” Mr. Merlo, the commentator, said, even though Italy is a peninsula with thousands of miles of coastline. The shipwreck was all the worse because it took place in the calmest of seas, just offshore. “Even the comparison with the Titanic isn’t right, because this didn’t take place on the high seas, but practically in a washtub,” he said. “It is a shipwreck that speaks of mediocrity.”

Some commentators have drawn analogies with other ignominious episodes from Italy’s past, like the escape from Rome of the royal family and the prime minister after Sept. 8, 1943, when a new government announced Italy’s breach with her Axis partner and the signing of an armistice with the Allies — often described as a classic moment of abandoning a sinking ship.

“The notion of running away is part of our history, and nails the Italian character,” Mr. Merlo said, noting that cowardice was a theme in many great films of Italy’s neorealist tradition. “That is our history, even when we try to modify it,” he said. And, he added, “our moments of greatness, often, have an element of the accidental hero,” as in the case of Captain De Falco.

But others warned of such simple narratives. Captain Schettino is being made “an easy scapegoat upon whom to vent our rage” and contrasted with “a hero without stain to placate it,” wrote Massimo Gramellini, in the Turin daily La Stampa. “That is the cloying formula of Italian stories in a time of crisis.” He called on Italians to suspend judgment of the episode, and objected to what he called the abuse of the term hero, which he said in Italy today seemed to be awarded to anyone who does his or her duty.

Captain De Falco might be the first to agree. He is under orders not to speak to the news media, but his reticence during public sightings this week suggests he is not one to seek celebrity. When he has spoken to local reporters it has been to reiterate that he is “not a hero,” and that he and his team were only doing their job.

The lesson to learn from the shipwreck, Mr. Severgnini said, was that Italy could move from a “my way” mentality to “another way.”

“We don’t want to become Swiss, but there are thousands of serious people in Italy,” he said, referring to the Swiss reputation for Calvinist work habits. And they should prevail over the ones “who may not command a ship, but manage to wreck their families, their work, or their country, and then run away.”