Holidaymakers were forced to flee the 1,500-cabin Costa Concordia in lifeboats when it hit a reef less than two hours after leaving port.
Some leapt overboard and swam to shore as the brightly-lit ship started to sink into the black waters near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast.
Italian media reported that two people died aboard the luxury liner and others may have been injured as the coastguard struggled to rescue the few remaining passengers.
Pregnant women and young children were among the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew who made it to safety.
Passengers' dinner was interrupted by a loud boom at around 8pm and a voice over the tannoy initially claimed that the ship was suffering an electrical failure, before ordering everyone onboard to don life-jackets.
"It was just like something out of the Titanic," one woman said. "You could tell straight away that the ship had hit something and no way was it an electrical fault.'
The Costa Crociera company, which operates the seven-day Mediterranean cruise, said there were 1,000 Italians on the ships as well as 500 Germans and around 150 French people but could not confirm whether any Britons were among the evacuated.
A local mayor on the island of Giglio said he was trying to find rooms to house the stranded people overnight.
The company said it was not clear what caused the fault and that an investigation was underway.
The cruise ship had set off from the Civitavecchia port near Rome earlier on Friday and had been due to visit Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, Barcelona and Marseille.
The ship is described on the firmΆs website as “one of the biggest ships in the Costa fleet, a real floating temple of fun that will amaze you.”
Prices begin at around £400 but can exceed £1,200 for the first-class cabins.
Costa Concordia sinks
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