Yes the master was to blame, however...
The helmsamn, apparently, had a limited grasp of the working language of the ship, which caused him to steer the wrong way, an all too common problem at sea today, especially on passenger vessels where there can be up to 30 different nationalities onboard, having tried to get people removed from the ship due to very limited English and having met great resistance from the company due to cost issues. The helmsamn was sentenced to 16 months in jail, why was the recruiting agent not in court for supplying seafarers who could not speak the language of the ship?
The ship had apparently sailed past giglio Island on other occasions, if the company genuinely had no knowledge of this then their audit processes must have been pretty poor, why was there only one person in court from the company?
Yes Schettino to blame, he was too close to land, the vessel was not proceeding at safe speed and like any disaster there were a million other links in the chain which could have prevented it, all of which are ultimately the master's responsibility. Added to this Schettino behaved reprehensibly in both the immediate aftermath and the time since the disaster. His abandonment by "falling into a lifeboat" was disgraceful;, as are his claims of having steered the ship to safety despite the subsequent investigation finding that the ship was completely without power, including emergency poer (and therefore without steering).
All that said, the actions of both the company and the Italian authorities have been equally reprehensible, both of these used the media to ensure that the master was not only blamed but demonised, thus deflecting any possible criticism away from themselves. The recording of the conversation between the coastguard and the master should never have been released to the press prior to the investigation, the company talking about "unauthorised deviations from the planned course" as if ships followed a red line which the company have approved as being safe.
Yes Schettino is to blame and he should go to jail for what he did, but so should a few others and not only those who have been sentenced recently (none of whom will actually serve time in jail)
[RANT/]