The Moby Prince departed Livorno at 22:03, bound for Olbia in Sardinia on a routine crossing. She carried 75 passengers and a crew of 66, commanded by Captain Ugo Chessa. Somewhere in the harbor's exit channel, the ferry's bow struck the oil tanker Agip Abruzzo, which was at anchor, slicing through tank number 7. The tank held 2,700 tons of Iranian light crude oil. Between 100 and 300 tons of crude sprayed across the ferry on impact. At 22:25, the radio operator broadcast a mayday on a portable VHF transmitter -- he was not at his fixed radio post when the collision occurred, a detail confirmed by where his body was later found. The signal was too weak and garbled for the port authority to understand clearly.

What happened next compounded a disaster into a catastrophe. The commander of the Agip Abruzzo, Renato Superina, radioed that his vessel had been struck by a bettolina -- a small refueling boat. He told rescuers to hurry to the tanker 'without mistaking them for us.' The rescue ships from Livorno reached the scene by 23:00 and focused entirely on saving the tanker's crew, which they did successfully. The Moby Prince, engulfed in fire and drifting in the harbor, went unnoticed. The first people to find the ferry were two tugboat operators, Mauro Valli and Walter Mattei, who arrived at 23:35 -- more than an hour after the collision. Hanging from the stern railing, they found the sole survivor: Alessio Bertrand, a ship's boy from Naples. He was pulled aboard. Among the dead were children -- Sara Canu, age 5, and her sister Ilenia, just one year old.

The official investigation accepted fog as the primary cause, citing a phenomenon called advection fog -- a localized buildup that could have obscured the tanker from the ferry's bridge. But multiple witnesses, including officers from the nearby Naval Academy, reported clear visibility that evening. The amateur video from the De Luxe lounge appeared to show fair weather. Deeper questions circled around the presence of unidentified ships in the harbor. Radio recordings from the night captured a transmission in English: 'This is Theresa, this is Theresa for the Ship One in Livorno anchorage, I'm moving out, I'm moving out.' The identity and purpose of this vessel were never established. American military ships frequently visited Livorno harbor due to the proximity of Camp Darby, and allegations persisted that weapons transfers or covert military operations may have been underway that night. No confirmation ever came.

The first trial began in November 1995. Four men were charged: the tanker's acting commander, two port authority officers responsible for the delayed rescue, and a sailor who missed the mayday call. On 31 October 1997, in a courtroom filled with police and carabinieri, all were acquitted. An appeal court later declared the case closed under the statute of limitations. In the years that followed, new inquiries were opened and closed. Satellite images from the night of the collision surfaced in prosecutors' files, suggesting that reconnaissance data existed but had never been fully examined. In 2009, the families of victims petitioned President Giorgio Napolitano to ask President Barack Obama to release any American radar recordings or satellite imagery from that night. A memorial tablet at Molo Mediceo in Livorno lists the names and ages of all 140 victims. The city dedicated a public square to their memory. More than three decades later, the full truth of what happened in Livorno harbor remains elusive -- a disaster defined not only by its terrible toll but by the silence that followed.