ROME — An Italian judge on Wednesday ordered the captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia to stand trial on manslaughter and other charges related to the deadly capsizing of the vessel off the coast of Tuscany in January 2012.

The judge set a July 9 trial date for the captain, Francesco Schettino, 52. He is accused of causing the ship to run aground, resulting in the deaths of 32 people, and then abandoning the vessel while many of its 4,229 passengers and crew members were still aboard.

“Schettino’s indictment certainly did not come unexpected,” said Francesco Pepe, one of the captain’s lawyers, who attended a pretrial hearing on Wednesday in Grosseto, a Tuscan city close to where the ship capsized. Mr. Pepe described the captain’s mood as very “attentive and focused on the case,” but also calm. “It’s like a driver whose bus goes off-road,” he said. “He had an accident and did all he could to reduce its consequences.”

Five other defendants — an official of the cruise ship company, Costa Cruises, and four crew members — sought plea bargains, and their cases will be judged separately.